DIVERSIDADE E ESTRUTURA DA COMUNIDADE DE VESPAS (Hymenoptera: chalcidoidea) ASSOCIADAS A FIGUEIRAS (Moraceae: ficus) NO CERRADO DA REGIÃO DE RIO VERDE-GO

Abstract

Pollination of Ficus flowers is carried out exclusively by wasps of the family Agaonidae. In addition to the pollinating wasps, other Hymenoptera groups use figs as an oviposition site. The non-pollinating wasps can present different life histories, such as gallers, kleptoparasites or parasitoids from pollinators or other non-pollinators. These wasps benefit from the oviposition site and the protected environment, applied by fig trees infructescences, but they do not pollinate, and for this reason they are recognized as parasites of mutualism. These wasps can impact in several ways the reproductive success of the plant and their associated wasps. In this sense, the present study aims to describe the wasp community associated with fig trees in cerrado regions, as well as their diversity, and to evaluate the impact of non-pollinating wasps on Ficus-wasp-fig mutualism. The data collection was carried out in the state of Goiás, mainly in areas of native vegetation of the cerrado, forest edges and agro-ecosystems. Of the 34 species collected, only four occur in more than one host. the network of interactions between wasps and fig trees was displayed and showed a modular structure, similar to the community of endophytic insects. The early gallers affected positively the number of seeds, but negatively the number of pollinators in Ficus obtusifolia, or what demonstrates that they can exhibit the ability of pollinators to occupy like fig flowers. Receptors in the receiving phase had a negative impact on the amount of seeds and pollinators in Ficus that is either perennial or that shows its competition with pollinators and an occupation of flowers. The selected prasitoids selected effects on the amount of seeds and the number of pollinators in F. pertusa and F. obtusiuscula. The effect on pollinating wasps must occur by direct consumption of the pollinator larvae or their food, while the effect on the seeds can be indirect, since their quantity increases as the number of pollinators increases.