Butterfly pollination and high-contrast visual signals in a low-density distylous plant

Abstract

In low-density butterfly-pollinated Mussaenda frondosa (Rubiaceae), flowers attract pollinators at short distances while conspicuous, non-rewarding accessory bracts are detectable at long distances by long-ranging pollinators such as the birdwing butterfly Troides minos that did not detect flower-bearing plants in the absence of these bracts. However, even in the absence of flowers, the white, ultraviolet-absorbing bracts attracted butterflies that visited flowerless plants. Although flower visits by short-ranging territorial butterflies declined significantly on removal of bracts, they did not cease completely. Nectar-robbing carpenter bees and birds did not change their behaviour following bract removal. Bract removal caused a significant decline in fruit set, indicating their importance as visual signals to pollinators.

Distribution and Evolutionary Impact of Wolbachia on Butterfly Hosts

“…Some butterflies are known to develop parasitic as well as symbiotic relationships with social insects, such as ants [28]. Butterflies serve as important plant pollinators and known to be involve in pollination of more than 50 economically important crop plants [29]. Some species in their larval stages are pests and can damage domestic leaf of crops or trees [30].…”

Pollination ecology of Isoglossa woodii, a long‐lived, synchronously monocarpic herb from coastal forests in South Africa

“…Animal pollination can be quite effective among plants occurring at low density (Borges et al 2003;Byrne et al 2007), potentially eliminating the selective advantage of masting. Nevertheless, animal pollination is a feature of some masting plants (Pías & Guitián 2006), of a number of long-lived monocarps (Aker 1982;Young 1982;Arizaga et al 2000;Price et al 2008) and of at least one long-lived synchronous monocarp (Sharma et al 2008).…”

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

“…structures (e.g. coloured bracts and stems) together with the fruits or flowers that probably function as amplifiers, increasing the detectability of the entire display [19] ( Figure 1b,c).…”