INVESTIGADORES
COCUCCI Andrea Aristides
artículos
Título:
Armament Imbalances: Match and Mismatch in Plant-Pollinator Traits of Highly Specialized Long-Spurred Orchids
Autor/es:
MORÉ, M.; AMORIM, F.; BENITEZ-VIEYRA, S.; MEDINA, M.; SAZIMA, M.; COCUCCI A. A.
Revista:
PLOS ONE
Editorial:
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
Referencias:
Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2012 vol. 7
ISSN:
1932-6203
Resumen:
Background
Some
species of long-spurred orchids achieve pollination by a close
association with long-tongued hawkmoths. Among them, several Habenaria
species present specialized mechanisms, where pollination success
depends on the attachment of pollinaria onto the heads of hawkmoths with
very long proboscises. However, in the Neotropical region such moths
are less abundant than their shorter-tongued relatives and are also
prone to population fluctuations. Both factors may give rise to
differences in pollinator-mediated selection on floral traits through
time and space.
Methodology/Principal Findings
We
characterized hawkmoth assemblages and estimated phenotypic selection
gradients on orchid spur lengths in populations of three South American Habenaria
species. We examined the match between hawkmoth proboscis and flower
spur lengths to determine whether pollinators may act as selective
agents on flower morphology. We found significant directional selection
on spur length only in Habenaria gourlieana, where most pollinators had proboscises longer than the mean of orchid spur length.
Conclusions/Significance
Phenotypic
selection is dependent on the mutual match between pollinator and
flower morphologies. However, our findings indicate that
pollinator-mediated selection may vary through time and space according
to local variations in pollinator assemblages.