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| Author(s): |
Marina Fernanda Bortolin Costa
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2015-09-10 |
| Examining board members: |
Simone de Pádua Teixeira;
Juliana Villela Paulino;
Joecildo Francisco Rocha;
Larissa Galante Elias;
Kayna Agostini
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| Advisor: | Simone de Pádua Teixeira |
| Abstract | |
The stigmatic structure in Ficus is an important characteristic to be investigated due to its morphological diversity in the group, to the synstigma occurrence, and to the important evolutionary aspects related to the pollinating wasps. The stigmatic morphology variation observed in Ficus manifests in the form, the surface composition, the exudate presence and, when present, the cohesion degree among the stigmas that form a sinestigma. So, this study aims to investigate in detail the stigma and synstigma morphology, as well as the synstigma functionality, using as models 29 species of Ficus, belonging to eight sections, of a total of19 sections. For this goal, three chapters were developed. In the first chapter, stigmas of eight species of Ficus belonging to the different lineages, with different pollination modes and sexual expression were observed by light and electron microscopy. In addition, the entomophilous species Castilla elastica, with passive pollination and considered sister group of Ficus, was selected for comparative purposes. The results demonstrated the high morphological diversity of the stigmas in Ficus, in addition to confirm the occurrence of synstigma in species with active pollination system, wether monoecious or ginodioecious. Surprisingly, the interwining of the stigmatic branches also occurs in C. elastica, suggesting the existence of synstigma as in Ficus. For the second chapter, 21 species of Ficus of section Americana with active pollination were studied to verify the presence and morphology of the synstigma. Measurements of the syconiua and their cavities were considered in order to classify the kind of synstigma found. All the species presented synstigmas, with variations in the stigmas number, the cohesion degree between the stigmas and the distance between the synstigmas. The presence of synstigma is not influenced by syconium size, but the cavity measurements can determine the degree of closeness between synstigmas. The third chapter proposed to analyze the synstigma functioning and its implications on the fig-fig wasp interaction in six species of Ficus of the section Americana, especially based on observations of the pistils in epifluorescence microscopy. It was observed pollen tubes, with atypical morphology, growing from one stigma towards another, confirming the importance of synstigma in the pollen tubes distribution. Our data confirmed many existing proposals in the literature on the subject, and is especially important becaused it is based on a high number of species. Because of it this study can be considered a great advance in the knowledge on the mutualistic interactions between figs and fig wasps (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 12/02374-2 - Synstigma of neotropical species of Ficus L. (Moraceae) and its role in fig-fig wasp mutualism |
| Grantee: | Marina Fernanda Bortolin Costa |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |