Floral longevity reflects a balance between gains in pollinator visitation and the costs of flower maintenance. Because rewards to pollinators change over time, older flowers may be less attractive, reducing the value of extended longevity. Un-pollinated figs, the inflorescences of Ficus species, can remain receptive for long periods, but figs that are older when entered by their host-specific ...

Orchids are extraordinary among plants because many species are pollinated through sexual duplicity by producing flowers that mimic female insects to lure unsuspecting males. Previous work showed that sexual deception by the orchid Chiloglottis trapeziformis can have a negative impact on its wasp pollinator Neozeleboria cryptoides. We report that female wasps may be capable of mitigating the co...

Warm temperatures are required for insect flight. Consequently, warming could benefit many high-latitude and high-altitude insects by increasing opportunities for foraging or oviposition. However, warming can also alter species interactions, including interactions with natural enemies, making the net effect of rising temperatures on population growth rate difficult to predict. We investigated t...

Prey (N) dependence [g(N)], predator (P) dependence [g(P) or g(N,P)], and ratio dependence [f(P/N)] are often seen as contrasting forms of the predator’s functional response describing predator consumption rates on prey resources in predator–prey and parasitoid–host interactions. Analogously, prey-, predator-, and ratio-dependent functional responses are apparently alternative functional respon...

A RECENT REVIEW (Bronstein 1992) of the interaction between figs (Ficus species, Moraceae) and their pollinators (Agaonidae: Hymenoptera) evaluated some potential conflicts of interest hat might constrain the evolution of the mutualism. One apparent conflict ensues when female wasps pollinate flowers while depositing their eggs in a fraction of fig ovaries. Some developing seeds are totally con...

Abstract Insect nesting boxes and hotels have the potential to provide shelter overwintering sites for beneficial insect communities such as pollinating bees, wasps, earwigs, other predatory arthropods. This study evaluated arthropod visitation consumer-ready, commercially available over a 2-yr period. were placed on mature river birch (Betula nigra L.) crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica in gar...

Ficus microcarpa is an Asian fig tree that is ornamentally cultivated. The specific pollinator, Eupristina verticillata Waterston, and the non-pollinators Walkerella microcarpae Boucek and Philotrypesis emeryi Grandi, have been reported associated to F. microcarpa in Brazil. In here we report for the first time the occurrence of Odontofroggatia ishii Wiebes and Philotrypesis taiwanensis Chen et...

Abstract When the abundance and composition of pollinators are unpredictable, exploitation a diverse assemblage is important for plant reproduction. To examine role floral traits in attracting pollinators, we performed field study using zygomorphic flowers Isodon trichocarpus. We investigated variation among seasonal pollinator determined whether behaviour linked to traits. compared diversity b...