Parallel evolution of angiosperm colour signals: common evolutionary pressures linked to hymenopteran vision
| Autor: | Marcello G. P. Rosa, Adrian G. Dyer, Vera Simonov, Skye Boyd-Gerny, Stephen McLoughlin, Bob B. M. Wong |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Victoria
Pollination Range (biology) Flowers Hymenoptera General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Magnoliopsida Species Specificity Pollinator Naturvetenskap Animals Spectral data Phylogeny Research Articles General Environmental Science General Immunology and Microbiology biology Ecology Similar distribution fungi Australia Northern Hemisphere food and beverages Pigments Biological General Medicine Bees biology.organism_classification Biological Evolution Spectrophotometry Colorimetry Parallel evolution Natural Sciences General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279:3606-3615 |
| ISSN: | 1471-2954 0962-8452 |
| DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2012.0827 |
| Popis: | Flowering plants in Australia have been geographically isolated for more than 34 million years. In the Northern Hemisphere, previous work has revealed a close fit between the optimal discrimination capabilities of hymenopteran pollinators and the flower colours that have most frequently evolved. We collected spectral data from 111 Australian native flowers and tested signal appearance considering the colour discrimination capabilities of potentially important pollinators. The highest frequency of flower reflectance curves is consistent with data reported for the Northern Hemisphere. The subsequent mapping of Australian flower reflectances into a bee colour space reveals a very similar distribution of flower colour evolution to the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, flowering plants in Australia are likely to have independently evolved spectral signals that maximize colour discrimination by hymenoptera. Moreover, we found that the degree of variability in flower coloration for particular angiosperm species matched the range of reflectance colours that can only be discriminated by bees that have experienced differential conditioning. This observation suggests a requirement for plasticity in the nervous systems of pollinators to allow generalization of flowers of the same species while overcoming the possible presence of non-rewarding flower mimics. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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