Pollinator response to yellow UV-patterned versus white UV-patternless flower dimorphism in Anemone palmata.

Autor: Rodríguez-Castañeda NL; Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain., Buide ML; Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain., Arista M; Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain., Narbona E; Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain., Ortiz PL; Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) [Plant Biol (Stuttg)] 2024 Oct; Vol. 26 (6), pp. 929-943. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 02.
DOI: 10.1111/plb.13702
Abstrakt: Flower colour polymorphisms are uncommon but widespread among angiosperms and can be maintained by a variety of balancing selection mechanisms. Anemone palmata is mostly yellow-flowered, but white-flowered plants coexist in some populations. We analysed the distribution of colour morphs of A. palmata across its range. We also characterised their colours and compared their vegetative and sexual reproductive traits, pollinator attention and fitness. The range of A. palmata is limited to the Western Mediterranean, while white-flowered plants are restricted to Portugal and SW Spain, where they occur at low proportions. Yellow flowers have a characteristic UV pattern, with a UV-absorbing centre and UV-reflecting periphery, which is absent in the white morph. Colour features of both morphs were highly delineated, making it easy for pollinators to distinguish them. Both morphs were protogynous, with the same duration of sexual stages, and the main floral traits related to pollinator attraction, apart from flower colour, were similar. Hymenoptera and Diptera were the main pollinators, showing preference for the yellow morph, clear partitioning of pollinator groups between the two colour morphs and a marked constancy to flower colour during foraging. Both morphs combined clonal propagation with sexual reproduction, but sexual reproductive potential was lower in white-flowered plants. Finally, female fitness was higher in the yellow morph. Pollinator partitioning and colour constancy could maintain this polymorphism, despite the lower visitation rate and fitness of white-flowered plants, which could facilitate their clonal propagation.
(© 2024 The Author(s). Plant Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of German Society for Plant Sciences, Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.)
Databáze: MEDLINE