The role of pollinators in generating and maintaining floral polymorphism : phylogeographic and behavioural aspects
Date
2013-03
Authors
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
Pollinators play a fundamental role in floral evolution. They can exert selection on the flowers they visit in a
plethora of different ways, ranging from innate floral preferences to differences in body size and shape and
behavioural elements such as flower constancy and learning capacity. Since different pollinators exhibit
differences in these characters, shifts between pollinating species are often considered the most likely drivers
of floral diversification. While many lines of evidence support this claim, numerous angiosperms pollinated
by a single species also exhibit floral variation. Throughout my thesis, I explore and investigate floral
diversification in such species in the absence of pollinator shifts.
In Chapter 2, I investigate variation in the preference of conspecific male and female pollinators for
the floral traits of a sexually deceptive daisy that comprises distinct floral forms. I show that its pollinator
exhibits gender-specific variation in floral preferences, and that some floral forms have specialized on the
male pollinator. This chapter thus illustrates the importance of intraspecific variation in pollinator preference
for floral diversification, an underappreciated mechanism in this field of research.
The innate preferences of pollinators are likely to have a genetic basis, especially innate preferences
that govern mate choice. Genetic structure within the pollinators of sexually deceptive plants, which mimic
female insects to achieve pollination, may thus provide an important source of selection on the plants they
pollinate. This depends on an association between genetic divergence and divergent mate preferences, and I
explore this intriguing idea in Chapter 3. While pollinators associated with sexually deceptive floral forms
did exhibit significant genetic structuring, male pollinators from different phylogeographic clades all
exhibited preference for the same sexually deceptive floral form, thus rejecting this hypothesis.
Another behavioural attribute of pollinators that may affect floral evolution, particularly in deceptive
plant species, is learning ability. Studies on sexually deceptive orchids often report that male pollinators tend
to avoid sexually deceptive flowers with experience. In Chapter 4, I systematically investigate learning
abilities within male pollinators and the costs they suffer on sexually deceptive floral forms that vary in
deceptiveness. Results reveal a positive relationship between the level of floral deceptiveness and the
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associated mating costs that deceived males suffer. Pollinator learning, however, appears to occur only on the
most deceptive floral forms, suggesting a link between the costs suffered to the occurrence of learning.
In Chapter 4, I systematically investigate learning
abilities within male pollinators and the costs they suffer on sexually deceptive floral forms that vary in
deceptiveness. Results reveal a positive relationship between the level of floral deceptiveness and the associated mating costs that deceived males suffer. Pollinator learning, however, appears to occur only on the
most deceptive floral forms, suggesting a link between the costs suffered to the occurrence of learning.
In Chapter 5, I explore the importance of florivory damage in a polymorphic daisy. Studies on floral
evolution often overlook the significance of florivorous visits and focus only on pollinator-mediated selection.
I show that floral polymorphism is maintained by antagonistic selection exerted by pollinators and florivores
on the same floral traits.
Lastly, I focus on evolutionary history to explore similarity in the patterns of South African
angiosperm evolution and the pollinator species used throughout my thesis. Molecular dating shows this
pollinator exhibits broadly congruent evolutionary patterns to these angiosperms, indicative of a shared
biogeography. Taken together, my thesis demonstrates the vast impact of floral visitors, in particular
pollinating insects, on the evolution of floral form.
Description
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
Keywords
Pollinator-mediated selection, Floral polymorphism, Pollinators -- Behavioural aspects, Plant-animal interactions, Theses -- Botany, Dissertations -- Botany