Figs as a Global Spiritual and Material Resource for Humans
Figs as a Global Spiritual and Material Resource for Humans
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DOI：
10.1007/s10745-013-9582-z
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发表时间：
2013-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Wilson, Anna
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wilson, David;Wilson, Anna
无花果（榕科：桑科）约有750种，分布在世界各地的热带和亚热带，其中约500种分布在亚洲-澳大拉西亚地区，130种分布在新热带地区，110种分布在非洲（Berg 1989; Janzen 1979）。长期以来，生态科学家一直着迷于这个属的多样性（Janzen 1979），认识到无花果和动物之间的相互作用是一种动态的互惠关系。这种观点是由无花果非凡的繁殖策略所驱动的，无花果的果实（合果）是与Agaonidae家族的授粉无花果黄蜂（Herre et al. 2008）的义务互惠关系。由于这种共生关系，无花果已经进化到在很短的时间间隔内产生非常大的果实，这有利于黄蜂的持续发展（Janzen 1979）。大型水果作物和常规结果的结合使无花果树成为许多食果动物的重要资源（Shanahan et al. 2001; Terborgh 1986），并且有人认为无花果是大陆尺度上的生态基石资源（Herre et al. 2008）。尽管无花果作为一种重要资源的作用已经确立，但人类在这些讨论中却明显缺席。在一份涵盖260种无花果和1280多种脊椎动物的无花果及其食果脊椎动物的全球综述中，唯一提到人类的是“婆罗洲、巴布亚新几内亚和非洲的人类食用野生无花果”的注释（Shanahan et al. 2001: 548）。在对无花果及其同伴的最全面和最新的生态回顾中（Herre et al. 2008），人类甚至一次也没有被提及。考虑到人类被认为是生态系统的重要组成部分（例如，McDonnell和Picket 1993），在这一讨论中遗漏人类似乎是一种特别的疏忽。
The figs (Ficus: Moraceae) contain about 750 species spread throughout the tropics and subtropics worldwide, with approximately 500 of these in the Asian-Australasian area, 130 in the Neotropics and 110 in Africa (Berg 1989; Janzen 1979). Ecological scientists have long been fascinated by the diversity of this genus (Janzen 1979), recognizing the interplay between figs and animals as a dynamic mutualism. This perspective has been driven by the remarkable reproductive strategy of figs, whose fruit (syconium) is the site of an obligate mutualism with pollinating fig wasps of the family Agaonidae (Herre et al. 2008). Due to this mutualism, figs have evolved to produce very large crops of fruit at short intervals that favor the continuous development of their wasp mutualists (Janzen 1979). This combination of large fruit crops and regular fruiting makes fig trees important resources for many frugivores (Shanahan et al. 2001; Terborgh 1986), and it has been suggested that figs are an ecological keystone resource at a continental scale (Herre et al. 2008). Although the role of figs as a vital resource is well established, humans are remarkably absent from these discussions. In a global review of figs and their vertebrate frugivores covering 260 fig species and over 1280 species of vertebrates, the only mention of humans is a note that ‘wild figs were eaten by humans in Borneo, Papua NewGuinea and Africa,’(Shanahan et al. 2001: 548). In the most comprehensive and recent ecological review of figs and their associates (Herre et al. 2008), humans are not mentioned even once. Given that humans are acknowledged as an important part of ecosystems (eg, McDonnell and Picket 1993) the omission of humans from this discussion appears a particular oversight.