The relative contribution of diurnal and nocturnal pollinators to plant female fitness in a specialized nursery pollination system
| Autor: | Lucia Campese, Giovanni Scopece, Karl J. Duffy, Salvatore Cozzolino |
|---|---|
| Přispěvatelé: | Scopece, Giovanni, Campese, Lucia, Duffy, KARL JOSEPH, Cozzolino, Salvatore |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Pollination mutualism parasitism Plant Science Nocturnal Pollination syndrome 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Predation Pollinator Silene latifolia Mutualism (biology) pollination syndrome biology Ecology fungi moth pollination food and beverages Fecundity biology.organism_classification Hadena bicruris nursery pollination Hadena bicruri Research Article 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | AoB Plants |
| ISSN: | 2041-2851 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/aobpla/ply002 |
| Popis: | Nursery pollination is an unusual plant–insect interaction in which an insect is both pollinator and seed predator. Depending on the abundance of the nursery pollinator and of other pollinators, this interaction can range from mutualism to parasitism and it is thus likely to vary geographically. We investigated this mechanism in the widespread species Silene latifolia in a Mediterranean environment that is likely to offer a rich pollinator community to the plant, thus decreasing the dependence on the nursery pollinator. Surprisingly, we found that although generalist pollinators contribute significantly to plant fitness, the nursery pollinator is still the more efficient. Plants involved in specialized pollinator interactions, such as nursery pollination, may experience trade-offs in their female fitness, as the larvae of their pollinators may also consume seeds produced by the flowers they pollinate. These interactions could potentially shift between mutualism and parasitism, depending on the presence and abundance of both the nursery pollinator and of other pollinators. We investigated the fitness trade-off in a Mediterranean plant (Silene latifolia), which has a specialist nocturnal nursery pollinator moth (Hadena bicruris) and is also visited by several diurnal pollinators. We estimated the pollination rates and fecundity of S. latifolia in both natural and experimental populations in the Mediterranean. We estimated natural pollination rates in different flowering times and with presence/absence of the H. bicruis moth. Then by exposing plants to each pollinator group either during the day or at night, we quantified the contribution of other diurnal pollinators and the specialized nocturnal nursery pollinator to plant female fitness. We found no difference in plant fruit set mediated by diurnal versus nocturnal pollinators, indicating that non-specialist pollinators contribute to plant female fitness. However, in both natural and experimental populations, H. bicruris was the most efficient pollinator in terms of seeds produced per fruit. These results suggest that the female fitness costs generated by nursery pollination can be overcome through higher fertilization rates relative to predation rates, even in the presence of co-pollinators. Quantifying such interactions is important for our understanding of the selective pressures that promote highly specialized mutualisms, such as nursery pollination, in the Mediterranean region, a centre of diversification of the carnation family. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|