Osborn Club Lecture

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Date/Time:Monday, 09 May 2016 from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Location:Hach Hall atrium
Cost:Lecture is free; social is $20 per person, $10 for students
URL:http://www.ent.iastate.edu/osbornclub/pr...grams/view
Phone:515-294-9759
Channel:Groups, governance
Categories:Lectures
Actions:Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder
John Nason, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, will present "A Pollination System on the Edge: Unraveling the Mysteries of Reproduction in the Fig-Fig Wasp Mutualism."

The interaction between figs and their pollinating fig wasps is a textbook case of mutualism, with each fig dependent upon its species-specific wasp for pollination services, and its wasp, in turn, utilizing a subset of fig ovules for the nourishment of it young. With more than 800 fig-wasp species pairs distributed across tropical habitats worldwide, the mutualism is diverse, ancient and widespread. Nonetheless, individual fig species typically occur at extraordinarily low densities in tropical forests and, because flowering is aseasonal, co-flowering individuals are routinely located kilometers apart. Moreover, dispersing wasps are small (1-2 mm), short-lived (2-3 d), and historically considered to be "weak" pollinators. This talk will present what we have learned about how fig and wasp species stably persist under these conditions. In addition, we will consider additional challenges faced by the mutualism in extreme environments, and the novel traits that have arisen in figs to overcome them. We will see that while these traits benefit both plant and pollinator, they also incur substantial cost through high rates of parasitism by non-pollinating fig wasps.