Insect-flower interactions, ecosystem functions, and restoration ecology in the northern Sahel: current knowledge and perspectives.

Actions for ecological restoration under the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative in the northern Sahel have been plant focused, paying scant attention to plant-animal interactions that are essential to ecosystem functioning. Calls to accelerate implementation of the GGW make it timely to develop a more solid conceptual foundation for restoration actions. As a step towards this goal, we review what is known in this region about an important class of plant-animal interactions, those between plants and flower-visiting insects.

Ozone alters the chemical signal required for plant - insect pollination: The case of the Mediterranean fig tree and its specific pollinator.

Tropospheric ozone (O) is likely to affect the chemical signal emitted by flowers to attract their pollinators through its effects on the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and its high reactivity with these compounds in the atmosphere. We investigated these possible effects using a plant-pollinator interaction where the VOCs responsible for pollinator attraction are known and which is commonly exposed to high O concentration episodes: the Mediterranean fig tree (Ficus carica) and its unique pollinator, the fig wasp (Blastophaga psenes). In controlled conditions, we exposed fig trees bearing receptive figs to a high-O episode (5 h) of 200 ppb and analyzed VOC emission.

Floral scent of the Mediterranean fig tree: significant inter-varietal difference but strong conservation of the signal responsible for pollinator attraction.

For thousands of years, humans have domesticated different plants by selecting for particular characters, often affecting less-known traits, including the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by these plants for defense or reproduction. The fig tree Ficus carica has a very wide range of varieties in the Mediterranean region and is selected for its traits affecting fruits, including pollination, but the effect of human-driven diversification on the VOCs emitted by the receptive figs to attract their pollinator (Blastophaga psenes) is not known. In the present study, VOCs from receptive figs of eight varieties in northern Morocco, were collected at different times within the manual pollination period and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Manganese distribution in the Mn-hyperaccumulator Grevillea meisneri from New Caledonia.

New Caledonian endemic Mn-hyperaccumulator Grevillea meisneri is useful species for the preparation of ecocatalysts, which contain Mn-Ca oxides that are very difficult to synthesize under laboratory conditions. Mechanisms leading to their formation in the ecocatalysts are unknown. Comparing tissue-level microdistribution of these two elements could provide clues.

Ozone Pollution Alters Olfaction and Behavior of Pollinators.

Concentration of air pollutants, particularly ozone (O), has dramatically increased since pre-industrial times in the troposphere. Due to the strong oxidative potential of O, negative effects on both emission and lifetime in the atmosphere of plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have already been highlighted. VOCs alteration by O may potentially affect the attraction of pollinators that rely on these chemical signals.

Author Correction: Chemical signal is in the blend: bases of plant-pollinator encounter in a highly specialized interaction.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Chemical signal is in the blend: bases of plant-pollinator encounter in a highly specialized interaction.

In several highly specialized plant-insect interactions, scent-mediated specificity of pollinator attraction is directed by the emission and detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although some plants engaged in such interactions emit singular compounds, others emit mixtures of VOCs commonly emitted by plants. We investigated the chemical ecological bases of host plant recognition in the nursery pollination mutualism between the dioecious Ficus carica and its specific pollinator Blastophaga psenes.

Diversification and spatial structuring in the mutualism between Ficus septica and its pollinating wasps in insular South East Asia.

Background: Interspecific interactions have long been assumed to play an important role in diversification. Mutualistic interactions, such as nursery pollination mutualisms, have been proposed as good candidates for diversification through co-speciation because of their intricate nature. However, little is known about how speciation and diversification proceeds in emblematic nursery pollination systems such as figs and fig wasps.

Courtship behavior of the castniid palm borer, Paysandisia archon: potential roles of male scents and visual cues in a day-flying moth.

The castniid palm borer, Paysandisia archon (Burmeister) (Lepidoptera: Castniidae), is a South American moth that in the last ten years has become a major pest of palm trees in the Mediterranean region. Current knowledge on the reproductive behavior of this diurnal moth suggests the importance of both visual and chemical cues, in particular the production of a male pheromone emitted during a specific scratching behavior. Male-produced scents have diverse functions in lepidopteran sexual communication but generally act during courtship behavior, leading to complex, stereotyped courtship sequences.

An extreme case of plant-insect codiversification: figs and fig-pollinating wasps.

It is thought that speciation in phytophagous insects is often due to colonization of novel host plants, because radiations of plant and insect lineages are typically asynchronous. Recent phylogenetic comparisons have supported this model of diversification for both insect herbivores and specialized pollinators. An exceptional case where contemporaneous plant-insect diversification might be expected is the obligate mutualism between fig trees (Ficus species, Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Agaonidae, Hymenoptera).

MSeasy: unsupervised and untargeted GC-MS data processing.

Unlabelled: MSeasy performs unsupervised data mining on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. It detects putative compounds within complex metabolic mixtures through the clustering of mass spectra. Retention times or retention indices are used after clustering, together with other validation criteria, for quality control of putative compounds.

Evidence for intersexual chemical mimicry in a dioecious plant.

The dioecious Mediterranean fig, Ficus carica, displays a unique phenology in which males sometimes bloom synchronously with females (in summer), and sometimes not (in spring). Ficus carica is engaged in an obligatory mutualism with a specific pollinating wasp, which reproduces only within figs, localising them by their specific scents. We show that scents emitted by male figs show seasonal variation within individual trees.

A case study of modified interactions with symbionts in a hybrid mediterranean orchid.

Premise Of The Study: Most studies on orchid hybrids examine separately the effects of hybridization on interactions with pollinators or with mycorrhizal fungi. Here, we simultaneously investigated both interactions in the mediterranean food-deceptive Orchis simia, O. anthropophora, and their hybrid (O.

Geographic variation of floral scent in a highly specialized pollination mutualism.

Floral scents are important signals for communication between plants and pollinators. Several studies have focused on interspecific variation of these signals, but little is known about intraspecific variation in flower scent, particularly for species with wide geographic distributions. In the highly specific mutualism between Ficus species and their pollinating wasps, chemical mediation is crucial for partner encounter.

Insights into the biogeographical history of the Lower Guinea Forest Domain: evidence for the role of refugia in the intraspecific differentiation of Aucoumea klaineana.

Determining the biogeographical histories of rainforests is central to our understanding of the present distribution of tropical biodiversity. Ice age fragmentation of central African rainforests strongly influenced species distributions. Elevated areas characterized by higher species richness and endemism have been postulated to be Pleistocene forest refugia.

Private channels in plant-pollinator mutualisms.

Volatile compounds often mediate plant-pollinator interactions, and may promote specialization in plant-pollinator relationships, notably through private channels of unusual compounds. Nevertheless, the existence of private channels, i.e.

Colonization processes and the maintenance of genetic diversity: insights from a pioneer rainforest tree, Aucoumea klaineana.

Despite recurrent episodes of range expansion and contraction, forest trees often harbour high genetic diversity. Studies of temperate forest trees suggest that prolonged juvenile phase and high pollen flow are the main factors limiting founder effects. Here, we studied the local colonization process of a pioneer rainforest tree in central Africa, Aucoumea klaineana.

Small-scale spatial genetic structure in the Central African rainforest tree species Aucoumea klaineana: a stepwise approach to infer the impact of limited gene dispersal, population history and habitat fragmentation.

Under the isolation-by-distance model, the strength of spatial genetic structure (SGS) depends on seed and pollen dispersal and genetic drift, which in turn depends on local demographic structure. SGS can also be influenced by historical events such as admixture of differentiated gene pools. We analysed the fine-scale SGS in six populations of a pioneer tree species endemic to Central Africa, Aucoumea klaineana.

Anthropogenic effects on population genetics of phytophagous insects associated with domesticated plants.

The hypothesis of isolation by distance (IBD) predicts that genetic differentiation between populations increases with geographic distance. However, gene flow is governed by numerous factors and the correlation between genetic differentiation and geographic distance is never simply linear. In this study, we analyze the interaction between the effects of geographic distance and of wild or domesticated status of the host plant on genetic differentiation in the bean beetle Acanthoscelides obvelatus.

Chemical mediation and niche partitioning in non-pollinating fig-wasp communities.

1. The parasitic chalcidoid wasps associated with the species-specific and obligatory pollination mutualisms between Ficus spp. and their agaonid wasp pollinators provide a good model to study the functional organization of communities.

Phylogeographic support for horizontal gene transfer involving sympatric bruchid species.

Background: We report on the probable horizontal transfer of a mitochondrial gene, cytb, between species of Neotropical bruchid beetles, in a zone where these species are sympatric. The bruchid beetles Acanthoscelides obtectus, A. obvelatus, A.

Ancient and recent evolutionary history of the bruchid beetle, Acanthoscelides obtectus Say, a cosmopolitan pest of beans.

Acanthoscelides obtectus Say is a bruchid species of Neotropical origin, and is specialized on beans of the Phaseolus vulgaris L. group. Since the domestication and diffusion of beans, A.

Changes in social interactions during adolescence in male mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx).

The adolescent period in male mandrills extends from the time the testicles descend (at the age of 3-4 years) to the time adult characteristics develop (at the age of 10 years), and is thus one of the longest adolescent periods in cercopithecines. In this short cross-sectional study of 11 male mandrills (4.7-9.

Temporal and sexual variation of leaf-produced pollinator-attracting odours in the dwarf palm.

Information on intra-specific variation in pollinator-attracting floral traits provides clues to selective pressures imposed by pollinators. However, these traits also reflect constraints related to floral phenology or morphology. The specific weevil pollinator Derelomus chamaeropsis of the dioecious Mediterranean dwarf palm Chamaerops humilis is attracted by volatile compounds that leaves, and not flowers, release during anthesis.