Our results give important insights into the potential drivers of among- and within-species variation in HP receipt. They also highlight the value of explorations of patterns at the intraspecific level, which can ultimately shed light on plant-pollinator-mediated selection in diverse plant communities.

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Assessing both quality and quantity of pollen receipt is key to determining the ovule fertilization potential of both endemic and widespread plants in biodiverse hotspot regions. Large natural variation among flowers of the same species in the two components and pollen tube formation deserves further analysis in order to estimate the environmental, phenotypic and intraindividual sources of variation that may affect how plants evolve to overcome this limitation in different communities worldwide.

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Edaphic factors can lead to differences in plant morphology and tissue chemistry. However, whether these differences result in altered plant-insect interactions for soil-generalist plants is less understood. We present evidence that soil chemistry can alter plant-insect interactions both directly, through chemical composition of plant tissue, and indirectly, through plant morphology, for serpentine-tolerant Mimulus guttatus (Phrymaceae). First, we scored floral display (corolla width, number of open flowers per inflorescence, and inflorescence height), flower chemistry, pollinator visitation and florivory of M. guttatus growing on natural serpentine and non-serpentine soil over 2 years. Second, we conducted a common garden reciprocal soil transplant experiment to isolate the effect of serpentine soil on floral display traits and flower chemistry. And last, we observed arrays of field-collected inflorescences and potted plants to determine the effect of soil environment in the field on pollinator visitation and florivore damage, respectively. For both natural and experimental plants, serpentine soil caused reductions in floral display and directly altered flower tissue chemistry. Plants in natural serpentine populations received fewer pollinator visits and less damage by florivores relative to non-serpentine plants. In experimental arrays, soil environment did not influence pollinator visitation (though larger flowers were visited more frequently), but did alter florivore damage, with serpentine-grown plants receiving less damage. Our results demonstrate that the soil environment can directly and indirectly affect plant-mutualist and plant-antagonist interactions of serpentine-tolerant plants by altering flower chemistry and floral display.