Artículo de revista
Pollination syndromes in a specialised plant-pollinator interaction: does floral morphology predict pollinators in Calceolaria?
Fecha
2015Registro en:
Plant Biology 17 (2015) 551–557
1435-8603
DOI: 10.1111/plb.12225
Autor
Murúa Ibarra, Maureen
Espíndola, A.
Institución
Resumen
Pollination syndromes are defined as suites of floral traits evolved in response to selection
imposed by a particular group of pollinators (e.g., butterflies, hummingbirds,
bats). Although numerous studies demonstrated their occurrence in plants pollinated
by radically different pollinators, it is less known whether it is possible to identify
them within species pollinated by one functional pollinator group. In such a framework,
we expect floral traits to evolve also in response to pollinator subgroups (e.g.,
species, genera) within that unique functional group. On this, specialised pollination
systems represent appropriate case studies to test such expectations. Calceolaria is a
highly diversified plant genus pollinated by oil-collecting bees in genera Centris and
Chalepogenus. Variation in floral traits in Calceolaria has recently been suggested to
reflect adaptations to pollinator types. However, to date no study has explicitly tested
that observation. In this paper, we quantitatively test that hypothesis by evaluating
the presence of pollination syndromes within the specialised pollination system
formed by several Calceolaria and their insect pollinators. To do so, we use multivariate
approaches and explore the structural matching between the morphology of 10
Calceolaria taxa and that of their principal pollinators. Our results identify morphological
matching between floral traits related to access to the reward and insect traits
involved in oil collection, confirming the presence of pollinator syndromes in Calceolaria.
From a general perspective, our findings indicate that the pollination syndrome
concept can be also extended to the intra-pollinator group level.