Bimodal Pollination Systems in Andean Melastomataceae Involving Birds, Bats, and Rodents
- Author(s)
- Agnes S. Dellinger, Lisa M. Scheer, Silvia Artuso, Diana Fernández-Fernández, Francisco Sornoza, Darin S. Penneys, Raimund Tenhaken, Stefan Dötterl, Jürg Schönenberger
- Abstract
AbstractFloral adaptation to a single most effective functional pollinator group leads to specialized pollination syndromes. However, adaptations allowing for pollination by two functional groups (bimodal pollination systems) remain a rarely investigated conundrum. We tested whether floral scent and nectar traits of species visited by two functional pollinator groups indicate specialization on either of the two pollinator groups or adaptations of both (bimodal systems). We studied pollination biology in four species of Meriania (Melastomataceae) in the Ecuadorian Andes. Pollinator observations and exclusion experiments showed that each species was effectively pollinated by two functional groups (hummingbirds/bats, hummingbirds/rodents, flowerpiercers/rodents), nectar composition followed known bird preferences, and scent profiles gave mixed support for specialization on bats and rodents. Our results suggest that nectar-rewarding Meriania species have evolved stable bimodal pollination strategies with parallel adaptations to two functional pollinator groups. The discovery of rodent pollination is particularly important given its rarity outside of South Africa.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
- External organisation(s)
- Paris-Lodron Universität Salzburg, National Institute of Biodiversity, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
- Journal
- The American Naturalist: a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences
- Volume
- 194
- Pages
- 104-116
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 0003-0147
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1086/703517
- Publication date
- 07-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106008 Botany, 106012 Evolutionary research, 106042 Systematic botany
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/6bdda7e1-8f10-498b-9ba4-049633d9efe9