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Convergent evolution of floral signals underlies the success of Neotropical orchids
- Source :
- Scopus-Elsevier, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, vol. 280, no. 1765, pp. 20130960
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Abstract
- The great majority of plant species in the tropics require animals to achieve pollination, but the exact role of floral signals in attraction of animal pollinators is often debated. Many plants provide a floral reward to attract a guild of pollinators, and it has been proposed that floral signals of non-rewarding species may converge on those of rewarding species to exploit the relationship of the latter with their pollinators. In the orchid family (Orchidaceae), pollination is almost universally animal-mediated, but a third of species provide no floral reward, which suggests that deceptive pollination mechanisms are prevalent. Here, we examine floral colour and shape convergence in Neotropical plant communities, focusing on certain food-deceptive Oncidiinae orchids (e.g. Trichocentrum ascendens and Oncidium nebulosum ) and rewarding species of Malpighiaceae. We show that the species from these two distantly related families are often more similar in floral colour and shape than expected by chance and propose that a system of multifarious floral mimicry—a form of Batesian mimicry that involves multiple models and is more complex than a simple one model–one mimic system—operates in these orchids. The same mimetic pollination system has evolved at least 14 times within the species-rich Oncidiinae throughout the Neotropics. These results help explain the extraordinary diversification of Neotropical orchids and highlight the complexity of plant–animal interactions.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Pollination
Oncidiinae
Color
Flowers
Trichocentrum
insect colour vision
convergent evolution
deceptive pollination
Neotropical plant communities
insect colour
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Oncidium
Species Specificity
Pollinator
Animals
Orchidaceae
Research Articles
General Environmental Science
General Immunology and Microbiology
biology
Ecology
General Medicine
15. Life on land
Bees
biology.organism_classification
Biological Evolution
Batesian mimicry
Guild
Pollen
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
010606 plant biology & botany
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14712954
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scopus-Elsevier, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, vol. 280, no. 1765, pp. 20130960
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7697a6c6d93cc134b9d2303071ae1281