Beyond buzz-pollination – departures from an adaptive plateau lead to new pollination syndromes

Autor(en)

Agnes S. Dellinger, Marion Chartier, Diana Fernández-Fernández, Darin S. Penneys, Marcela Alvear, Frank Almeda, Fabián A. Michelangeli, Yannick Staedler, W. Scott Armbruster, Jürg Schönenberger

Abstrakt

Summary Pollination syndromes describe recurring adaptation to selection imposed by distinct pollinators. We tested for pollination syndromes in Merianieae (Melastomataceae), which contain bee- (buzz-), hummingbird-, flowerpiercer-, passerine-, bat- and rodent-pollinated species. Further, we explored trait changes correlated with the repeated shifts away from buzz-pollination, which represents an ?adaptive plateau? in Melastomataceae. We used random forest analyses to identify key traits associated with the different pollinators of 19 Merianieae species and estimated the pollination syndromes of 42 more species. We employed morphospace analyses to compare the morphological diversity (disparity) among syndromes. We identified three pollination syndromes (?buzz-bee?, ?mixed-vertebrate? and ?passerine?), characterized by different pollen expulsion mechanisms and reward types, but not by traditional syndrome characters. Further, we found that ?efficiency? rather than ?attraction? traits were important for syndrome circumscription. Contrary to syndrome theory, our study supports the pooling of different pollinators (hummingbirds, bats, rodents and flowerpiercers) into the ?mixed-vertebrate? syndrome, and we found that disparity was highest in the ?buzz-bee? syndrome. We conclude that the highly adaptive buzz-pollination system may have prevented shifts towards classical pollination syndromes, but provided the starting point for the evolution of a novel set of distinct syndromes, all having retained multifunctional stamens that provide pollen expulsion, reward and attraction.

Organisation(en)

Department für Botanik und Biodiversitätsforschung

Externe Organisation(en)

Herbario Nacional del Ecuador, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, California Academy of Sciences, New York Botanical Garden, University of Portsmouth, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Journal

New Phytologist

Band

221

Seiten

1136-1149

Anzahl der Seiten

14

ISSN

0028-646X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15468

Publikationsdatum

01-2019

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

106008 Botanik, 106012 Evolutionsforschung, 106042 Systematische Botanik

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Physiology, Plant Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/beyond-buzzpollination--departures-from-an-adaptive-plateau-lead-to-new-pollination-syndromes(7e7755e5-12d4-4bd3-9b2d-498bcac8f87d).html