Bimodal Pollination Systems in Andean Melastomataceae Involving Birds, Bats, and Rodents

Autor(en)
Agnes S. Dellinger, Lisa M. Scheer, Silvia Artuso, Diana Fernández-Fernández, Francisco Sornoza, Darin S. Penneys, Raimund Tenhaken, Stefan Dötterl, Jürg Schönenberger
Abstrakt

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(en)
Department für Botanik und Biodiversitätsforschung
Externe Organisation(en)
Paris-Lodron Universität Salzburg, Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Journal
The American Naturalist: a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences
Band
194
Seiten
104-116
Anzahl der Seiten
13
ISSN
0003-0147
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1086/703517
Publikationsdatum
07-2019
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
106008 Botanik, 106012 Evolutionsforschung, 106042 Systematische Botanik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/bimodal-pollination-systems-in-andean-melastomataceae-involving-birds-bats-and-rodents(6bdda7e1-8f10-498b-9ba4-049633d9efe9).html