Pollinator recognition by a keystone tropical plant

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Matthew G BettsW John Kress

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms enabling coevolution in complex mutualistic networks remains a central challenge in evolutionary biology. We show for the first time, to our knowledge, that a tropical plant species has the capacity to discriminate among floral visitors, investing in reproduction differentially across the pollinator community. After we standardized pollen quality in 223 aviary experiments, successful pollination of Heliconia tortuosa (measured as pollen tube abundance) occurred frequently when plants were visited by long-distance traplining hummingbird species with specialized bills (mean pollen tubes = 1.21 ± 0.12 SE) but was reduced 5.7 times when visited by straight-billed territorial birds (mean pollen tubes = 0.20 ± 0.074 SE) or insects. Our subsequent experiments revealed that plants use the nectar extraction capacity of tropical hummingbirds, a positive function of bill length, as a cue to turn on reproductively. Furthermore, we show that hummingbirds with long bills and high nectar extraction efficiency engaged in daily movements at broad spatial scales (∼1 km), but that territorial species moved only short distances (<100 m). Such pollinator recognition may therefore affect mate selection and maximize recei...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 29, 2016·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Urs KormannMatthew G Betts
May 6, 2015·Trends in Plant Science·Judith L Bronstein, Sarah K Richman
Apr 7, 2017·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Martha Liliana Serrano-SerranoMathieu Perret
Nov 12, 2017·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Antonio R CastillaShalene Jha
Aug 4, 2020·Molecular Ecology·Diana Gamba, Nathan Muchhala
Mar 5, 2020·Ecology and Evolution·Štěpán JanečekFrancis Luma Ewome
Jun 19, 2021·Ecology and Evolution·Matthew G BettsDiego Zárrate-Charry
Jun 12, 2021·Integrative and Comparative Biology·A J SargentA Rico-Guevara
May 30, 2021·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Alejandro Rico-GuevaraAvery L Russell

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