title: Winter cropping in Ficus tinctoria: an alternative strategy.
abstract: The many species of figs (Ficus, Moraceae) have evolved a variety of reproductive phenologies that ensure the survival of both the fig plants and their short-lived, species-specific, pollinating wasps. A phenological study of 28 male and 23 female plants of a dioecious hemiepiphytic fig, Ficus tinctoria, was conducted in Xishuangbanna, SW China at the northern margin of tropical SE Asia. In contrast to other figs of seasonal climates, which have a winter low in fig production, both sexes produced their major fig crops at the coldest time of the year. Male plants released pollinators during the period when most female trees were receptive and male syconia had a long wasp-producing (D) phase, which ensured high levels of pollination. Female crops ripened at the end of the dry season, when they attracted numerous frugivorous birds and dispersed seeds can germinate with the first reliable rains. Few syconia were produced by either sex during the rest of the year, but these were sufficient to maintain local pollinator populations. We suggest that this unique phenological strategy has evolved to maximize seed dispersal and establishment in this seasonal climate.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Huanhuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China.
authors.forename: Yanqiong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Yunnan Academy of Biodiversity, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China.
authors.forename: Richard T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Corlett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D030681:Ficus; D054817:Pollination; D012098:Reproduction; D014863:Wasps