Resilient Plant–Bird Interactions in a Volcanic Island Ecosystem: Pollination of Japanese Camellia Mediated by the Japanese White-Eye

Abstract

Observations of interspecies interactions during volcanic activity provide important opportunities to study how organisms respond to environmental devastation. Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica L.) and its main avian pollinator, the Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonica), offer an excellent example of such an interaction as key members of the biotic community on Miyake-jima, which erupted in 2000 and continues to emit volcanic gases. Both species exhibit higher resistance to volcanic damage than other species. We examined the effects of volcanic activity on this plant–pollinator system by estimating pollen flow and the genetic diversity of the next generation. The results showed that despite a decrease in Camellia flowers, the partitioning of allelic richness among mother-tree pollen pools and seeds decreased while the migration rate of pollen from outside the study plot and the pollen donor diversity within a fruit increased as the index of volcanic damage increased. In areas with low food (flower) density due to volcanic damage, Z. japonica ranged over larger areas to satisfy its energy needs rather than moving to areas with higher food density. Consequently, the genetic diversity of the seeds (the next plant generation) increased with the index of volcanic damage. The results were consistent with previously published data on the movement of Z. japonica based on radio tracking and the genetic diversity of Camellia pollen adhering to pollinators. Overall, our results indicated that compensation mechanisms ensured better pollination after volcanic disturbance.

Unique pioneer microbial communities exposed to volcanic sulfur dioxide

“…Those datasets were compared with an 8.5-year-old deposit derived from a less-affected site (site IG1; IGVD; Fig. 1b ,d), and with forest soil derived from an undamaged site on the island (control sample) 13 14 (site CL; CLS; Fig. 1b ,e).…”

“…The volcanic deposits were taken from an unvegetated spot in July 2009 (deposit age, 8.9 years). The forest soil, which had been undisturbed for over 800 years 7 13 , was sampled from a site at the foot of the mountain in March 2007 (site CL; 34°06.68′N, 139°30.06′E; 97 m a.s.l. ; Fig.…”

Nectar properties and the role of sunbirds as pollinators of the golden‐flowered tea (Camellia petelotii)

“…Th e assimilation efficiency of sucrose in the intestines of the Cape white-eye was 97.6% ( Fleming et al, 2004 ). Given that nectar of C. japonica comprises 70-90% of the Japanese white-eye's winter diet ( Abe et al, 2013 ), it would be interesting to test whether this species has evolved a similar pattern of assimilation effi ciency and sucrose preference.…”

Ecological properties of shoot- and single seeds in a hardwood, Zelkova serrata

“…We estimated mating system parameters by assaying a total of 80 shoot seeds and 70 single seeds that were randomly collected from Parent 1 and Parent 2 for five microsatellite loci ( bczs143a , bczs144a , bczs157c , bczs184a , and bczs241a [4] ). Total DNA was extracted from seed embryos using SDS-proteinase K treatment [5] , [6] . Each seed embryo was crushed in a 1.5 mL tube using a toothpick; subsequently, 10 μL reaction buffer (20 mM Tris–HCl buffer [pH 8.0], 100 mM KCl, 2 mM MgCl 2 , 0.01% proteinase K, and 0.1% SDS) was added to the tube, and the tube was incubated at 37 °C for 60 min and then heated at 95 °C for 10 min.…”