Flower colour adaptation in a mimetic orchid

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - Tập 279 Số 1737 - Trang 2309-2313 - 2012
Ethan Newman1, Bruce Anderson1, Steven D. Johnson2
1Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
2School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa

Tóm tắt

Although the tremendous variability in floral colour among angiosperms is often attributed to divergent selection by pollinators, it is usually difficult to preclude the possibility that floral colour shifts were driven by non-pollinator processes. Here, we examine the adaptive significance of flower colour inDisa ferruginea, a non-rewarding orchid that is thought to attract its butterfly pollinator by mimicking the flowers of sympatric nectar-producing species.Disa ferrugineahas red flowers in the western part of its range and orange flowers in the eastern part—a colour shift that we hypothesized to be the outcome of selection for resemblance to different local nectar-producing plants. Using reciprocal translocations of red and orange phenotypes as well as arrays of artificial flowers, we found that the butterflyAeropetes tulbaghia, the only pollinator of the orchid, preferred both the red phenotype and red artificial flowers in the west where its main nectar plant also has red flowers, and both the orange phenotype and orange artificial flowers in the east, where its main nectar plant has orange flowers. This phenotype by environment interaction demonstrates that the flower colour shift inD. ferrugineais adaptive and driven by local colour preference in its pollinator.

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Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Tập 279 Số 1737

2309-2313

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