Geographic variation in flower color: spectral composition versus perception of pollinators.

BARANZELLI, M.; COSACOV, A.; FERREIRO, G.; SÉRSIC, A.N.

Drakensberg

Congreso; Annual Meeting of the South African Association of Botanists; 2013

Sérsic, Alicia Noemi. Email: asersic@gmail.com Poster Poster categories: Pollination biology SAAB student award: Best Poster prize, PhD student Geographic variation in flower color: spectral composition versus perception of pollinators M. Baranzelli, A. Cosacov, G. Ferreiro, and A. Sérsic Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV-CONICET), Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva y Biología Floral. Vélez Sarsfield 299, Córdoba, Argentina. CP: 5000. Geographic variation of flower color can be the result of selective processes mediated by pollinators. Changes in flower color can steer visual attention of pollinators in different ways, thus enhancing pollination success of plants. Despite this is a widespread belief in pollination biology, there is no study that analyses at a geographical scale both, the spectral patterns of the light reflected by flowers (physical component) across the entire wavelength range, and the colour space patterns obtained from the perception by pollinators of the reflected colours (adaptive component). Here we compare the structure of the total variation of flower color versus perception of pollinators in 23 populations of the three species of Monttea (Plantaginaceae).There was substantial variation in the coloration of flowers between and within species considering both components. However, for each segment of the flower measured (petal, floral tube and elaiophore), each data group showed different patterns in color variation. In relation to the perception of pollinators mainly interspecific differences were observed and coeficients of variation showed that there is less variation at a geographic scale in the adaptive component of the color than in the spectral patterns obtained from flowers. The multivariate analysis showed that pollinators can distinguish between species, whereas there is some overlap in the spectra of flowers. This is a significant approach to elucidate the evolutionary and ecological processes underlying the flower color variation. Results showed differences in floral color patterns considering the spectral analysis versus that perceived by the pollinators, suggesting different ecological and evolutionary processes underlying the observed variation of each group of data: the adaptive component of color would be primarily associated with the assemblage of pollinators, suggesting an isolation mediated by pollinators between species, while the spectral variation of color, will be associated with other factors, like climatic and/or neutral processes.