Selection on signal–reward correlation: limits and opportunities to the evolution of deceit in Turnera ulmifolia L.

BENITEZ-VIEYRA, S.; ORDANO, M.; FORNONI, J.; BOEGE, K.; DOMÍNGUEZ, C.A.

JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2010 vol. 23 p. 2760 - 2767

1010-061X

Because pollinators are unable to directly assess the amount of rewards offeredby flowers, they rely on the information provided by advertising floral traits.Thus, having a lower intra-individual correlation between signal and reward(signal accuracy) than other plants in the population provides the opportunityto reduce investment in rewards and cheat pollinators. However, pollinators’cognitive capacities can impose a limit to the evolution of this plant cheatingstrategy if they can punish those plants with low signal accuracy. In this study,we examined the opportunity for cheating in the perennial weed Turneraulmifolia L. evaluating the selective value of signal accuracy, floral display andreward production in a natural population. We found that plant reproductivesuccess was positively related to signal accuracy and floral display, but not tonectar production. The intensity of selection on floral display was more thanthree times higher than on signal accuracy. The pattern of selection indicatedthat pollinators can select for signal accuracy provided by plants and suggeststhat learning abilities of pollinators can limit the evolution of deceptivestrategies in T. ulmifolia.