Evolution of honest reward signal in flowers

Ito, Koichi; Suzuki, M.; Mochizuki, Ko

doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2848

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…6 A and B ; SI Appendix , Table S1 ). These cumulative results strongly suggest that nesocodin’s red color is both visible and attractive to Phelsuma day geckos, thus supporting a role in pollinator attraction as a conspicuous “honest reward,” as previously suggested ( 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 ).…”

Section: Nesocodin Is Visible and Attractive To Day Geckossupporting

confidence: 82%

Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers

Roy

Moreno

Brockman

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Nearly 90% of flowering plants depend on animals for reproduction. One of the main rewards plants offer to pollinators for visitation is nectar. Nesocodon mauritianus (Campanulaceae) produces a blood-red nectar that has been proposed to serve as a visual attractant for pollinator visitation. Here, we show that the nectar’s red color is derived from a previously undescribed alkaloid termed nesocodin. The first nectar produced is acidic and pale yellow in color, but slowly becomes alkaline before taking on its characteristic red color. Three enzymes secreted into the nectar are either necessary or sufficient for pigment production, including a carbonic anhydrase that increases nectar pH, an aryl-alcohol oxidase that produces a pigment precursor, and a ferritin-like catalase that protects the pigment from degradation by hydrogen peroxide. Our findings demonstrate how these three enzymatic activities allow for the condensation of sinapaldehyde and proline to form a pigment with a stable imine bond. We subsequently verified that synthetic nesocodin is indeed attractive to Phelsuma geckos, the most likely pollinators of Nesocodon. We also identify nesocodin in the red nectar of the distantly related and hummingbird-visited Jaltomata herrerae and provide molecular evidence for convergent evolution of this trait. This work cumulatively identifies a convergently evolved trait in two vertebrate-pollinated species, suggesting that the red pigment is selectively favored and that only a limited number of compounds are likely to underlie this type of adaptation.

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Section: Nesocodin Is Visible and Attractive To Day Geckossupporting

confidence: 82%

Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers

Roy

Moreno

Brockman

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This may be best exemplified by the convergent evolution of floral colour change producing a combination of extended flower life and colour change in old, rewardless flowers (Weiss, 1995 ; Ohashi et al ., 2015 ; Figs 4C , 6A ). In particular, a theoretical study has confirmed that the trait combination in floral colour change becomes evolutionarily stable only in generalized systems where both opportunistic and well‐informed pollinators visit (Ito, Suzuki & Mochizuki, 2021 ). Recent studies have also revealed that species in Melastomataceae have undergone convergent and correlated evolution of multiple floral characters in association with generalized pollination systems (Dellinger et al ., 2019 a ; Gavrutenko et al ., 2020 ).…”

Section: Future Perspectives For Investigating Trade‐offs In Flower–visitor Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade‐off mitigation: a conceptual framework for understanding floral adaptation in multispecies interactions

2021

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Explanations of floral adaptation to diverse pollinator faunas have often invoked visitor-mediated trade-offs in which no intermediate, generalized floral phenotype is optimal for pollination success, i.e. fitness valleys are created. In such cases, plant species are expected to specialize on particular groups of flower visitors. Contrary to this expectation, it is commonly observed that flowers interact with various groups of visitors, while at the same time maintaining distinct phenotypes among ecotypes, subspecies, or congeners. This apparent paradox may be due to a gap in our understanding of how visitor-mediated trade-offs could affect floral adaptation. Here we provide a conceptual framework for analysing visitormediated trade-offs with the hope of stimulating empirical and theoretical studies to fill this gap. We propose two types of visitor-mediated trade-offs to address negative correlations among fitness contributions of different visitors: visitormediated phenotypic trade-offs (phenotypic trade-offs) and visitor-mediated opportunity trade-offs (opportunity trade-offs). Phenotypic trade-offs occur when different groups of visitors impose conflicting selection pressures on a floral trait. By contrast, opportunity trade-offs emerge only when some visitors' actions (e.g. pollen collection) remove opportunities for fitness contribution by more beneficial visitors. Previous studies have observed disruptive selection due to phenotypic trade-offs less often than expected. In addition to existing explanations, we propose that some flowers have achieved 'adaptive generalization' by evolving features to avoid or eliminate the fitness valleys that phenotypic trade-offs tend to produce. The literature suggests a variety of pathways to such 'trade-off mitigation'. Trade-off mitigation may also evolve as an adaptation to opportunity trade-offs. We argue that active exclusion, or floral specialization, can be viewed as a trade-off mitigation, occurring only when flowers cannot otherwise avoid strong opportunity trade-offs. These considerations suggest that an evolutionary strategy for trade-off mitigation is achieved often by acquiring novel combinations of traits. Thus, phenotypic diversification of flowers through convergent evolution of certain trait combinations may have been enhanced not only through adaptive specialization for particular visitors, but also through adaptive generalization for particular visitor communities. Explorations of how visitor-mediated trade-offs explain the recurrent patterns of floral phenotypes may help reconcile the long-lasting controversy on the validity of pollination syndromes.

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“…Although using hyperspectral remote sensing to study vegetation is relatively novel compared to the use of multispectral remote sensing, advancements in this field may be critical to capturing the health and flowering dynamics of different species at fine spatial and temporal grain. This may facilitate detecting changes in flowering over short periods of time and corresponding shifts to floral rewards, which can influence pollinators' foraging decisions (Ito et al, 2021). Furthermore, some studies have used hyperspectral datasets to establish relationships between species biodiversity and spectral diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing of Floral Resources for Pollinators – New Horizons From Satellites to Drones

2022

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Insect pollinators are affected by the spatio-temporal distribution of floral resources, which are dynamic across time and space, and also influenced heavily by anthropogenic activities. There is a need for spatial data describing the time-varying spatial distribution of flowers, which can be used within behavioral and ecological studies. However, this information is challenging to obtain. Traditional field techniques for mapping flowers are often laborious and limited to relatively small areas, making it difficult to assess how floral resources are perceived by pollinators to guide their behaviors. Conversely, remote sensing of plant traits is a relatively mature technique now, and such technologies have delivered valuable data for identifying and measuring non-floral dynamics in plant systems, particularly leaves, stems and woody biomass in a wide range of ecosystems from local to global scales. However, monitoring the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant floral resources has been notably scarce in remote sensing studies. Recently, lightweight drone technology has been adopted by the ecological community, offering a capability for flexible deployment in the field, and delivery of centimetric resolution data, providing a clear opportunity for capturing fine-grained information on floral resources at key times of the flowering season. In this review, we answer three key questions of relevance to pollination science – can remote sensing deliver information on (a) how isolated are floral resources? (b) What resources are available within a flower patch? And (c) how do floral patches change over time? We explain how such information has potential to deepen ecological understanding of the distribution of floral resources that feed pollinators and the parameters that determine their navigational and foraging choices based on the sensory information they extract at different spatial scales. We provide examples of how such data can be used to generate new insights into pollinator behaviors in distinct landscape types and their resilience to environmental change.

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Evolution of honest reward signal in flowers

Cited by 11 publications

References 49 publications

Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers

Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers

Trade‐off mitigation: a conceptual framework for understanding floral adaptation in multispecies interactions

Remote Sensing of Floral Resources for Pollinators – New Horizons From Satellites to Drones

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