Deceptive pollination and insects’ learning: a delicate balance

Vázquez, Virgilio; Barradas, Ignacio

doi:10.1080/17513758.2017.1337246

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(54 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[4]). Likewise, plants sometimes exploit pollinators by deceiving them into visiting and pollinating flowers that falsely advertise more resources than they have [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory bias and signal detection trade-offs maintain intersexual floral mimicry

Russell

Kikuchi

Giebink

et al. 2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mimicry is common in interspecies interactions, yet conditions maintaining Batesian mimicry have been primarily tested in predator–prey interactions. In pollination mutualisms, floral mimetic signals thought to dupe animals into pollinating unrewarding flowers are widespread (greater than 32 plant families). Yet whether animals learn to both correctly identify floral models and reject floral mimics and whether these responses are frequency-dependent is not well understood. We tested how learning affected the effectiveness and frequency-dependence of imperfect Batesian mimicry among flowers using the generalist bumblebee, Bombus impatiens , visiting Begonia odorata , a plant species exhibiting intersexual floral mimicry. Unrewarding female flowers are mimics of pollen-rewarding male flowers (models), though mimicry to the human eye is imperfect. Flower-naive bees exhibited a perceptual bias for mimics over models, but rapidly learned to avoid mimics. Surprisingly, altering the frequency of models and mimics only marginally shaped responses by naive bees and by bees experienced with the distribution and frequency of models and mimics. Our results provide evidence both of exploitation by the plant of signal detection trade-offs in bees and of resistance by the bees, via learning, to this exploitation. Critically, we provide experimental evidence that imperfect Batesian mimicry can be adaptive and, in contrast with expectations of signal detection theory, functions largely independently of the model and mimic frequency. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests’.

show abstract

“…[4]). Likewise, plants sometimes exploit pollinators by deceiving them into visiting and pollinating flowers that falsely advertise more resources than they have [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory bias and signal detection trade-offs maintain intersexual floral mimicry

Russell

Kikuchi

Giebink

et al. 2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The learning task is clearly simpler when the goal is to distinguish between flowers that offer nectars and those that do not (an individual perceives with ease whether the reward happened), than when the reward is successful fertilization of eggs (there is no direct ‘feedback' helping an insect to assess whether it succeeded in this task). There is also the problem that at low levels of deceptiveness, learning is not expected to evolve and deceptive relationships are maintained, while strong costs of deceptiveness (in our context, high density of orchids that successfully elicit ejaculation) makes the relationship prone to extinction (Lehtonen and Whitehead 2014, Vázquez and Barradas 2017). We thus believe learning might play a limited role in this system, but further modelling could usefully examine whether this assessment is correct.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Resilience of haplodiploids to being exploited by sexually deceptive plants

Brunton-Martin

Gaskett

2021

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In species with obligate sexual reproduction, scarcity of males can occasionally limit female reproductive success. It is unclear, however, whether this impacts populationlevel persistence. Sexually deceptive orchids attract mate-searching male insects who lose time, mating opportunities and may even become sperm depleted by mating with flowers. These insects are almost exclusively haplodiploid, and able to reproduce regardless of sperm availability -which might mitigate costs of deception. We model the population dynamics of deceived diploid or haplodiploid pollinators. The model reveals that haplodiploidy can enhance prospects for coexistence. If 'sperm theft' by orchids is severe enough to generate unmated females in the local pollinator pool, this enhances the production of sons, which are subsequently available to act as pollinators. The mechanism relies on female haplodiploids being able to reproduce with or without sperm; this is absent in many diploid insects -where unmated females do not reproduce. We show that this gives haplodiploids an ability to maintain higher population densities, and to persist up to higher orchid densities, than diploids. Our model identifies the enhanced resilience of haplodiploid pollinators against deceptive exploitation as a possible reason why these systems have persisted.

show abstract

“…Alternatively, odor polymorphism might prevent insects from learning how to distinguish between the real decomposing substrate and the mimic. 74 Carrion, dung and the like are subjected to several abiotic parameters. Moreover, decomposition processes are strongly influenced by the action of various microorganisms and never smell 100% identical.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Odor polymorphism in deceptiveAmorphophallusspecies - a review

Claudel

Lev‐Yadun

2021

Plant Signaling & Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Some plant lineages, such as Araceae and Orchidaceae, have independently evolved deceptive flowers. These exploit the insect’s perception and deceive the insects into believing to have located a suitable opportunity for reproduction. The scent compounds emitted by the flowers are the key signals that dupe the insects, guiding them to the right spots that in turn ensure flower pollination. Most species of the genus Amorphophallus of the Araceae emit scent compounds that are characteristic of a deceit, suggesting a specific plant pollinator interaction and according odors. However, only a few clear evolutionary trends in regard to inflorescence odors in Amorphophallus could be traced in previous studies – an intriguing result, considered the multitude of characteristic scent compounds expressed in Amorphophallus as well as the key function of scent compounds in deceptive floral systems in general. At least two factors could account for this result. (1) The deceptive pollinator-attraction floral system, including the emitted scent compounds, is less specific than assumed. (2) An evolutionary trend cannot be discerned if the intraspecific scent variation (odor polymorphism) exceeds the interspecific odor variation. Therefore, we discuss the potential deceptive function of the emitted scent compounds, in particular those that are related to cadaveric decomposition. Moreover, we review the data about emitted scent compounds in Amorphophallus with a focus on putative odor polymorphism. Upon examination, it appears that the emitted scent compounds in Amorphophallus are highly mimetic of decomposing organic materials. We show that several species display odor polymorphism, which in turn might constitute an obstacle in the analysis of evolutionary trends. An important odor polymorphism is also indicated by subjective odor perceptions. Odor polymorphism may serve several purposes: it might represent an adaptation to local pollinators or it might assumingly prevent insects from learning to distinguish between a real decomposing substrate and an oviposition-site mimic.

show abstract

Deceptive pollination and insects’ learning: a delicate balance

Cited by 11 publications

References 30 publications

Sensory bias and signal detection trade-offs maintain intersexual floral mimicry

Sensory bias and signal detection trade-offs maintain intersexual floral mimicry

Resilience of haplodiploids to being exploited by sexually deceptive plants

Odor polymorphism in deceptiveAmorphophallusspecies - a review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About