Floral colour changes as cues for pollinators

Weiss, Martha R.

doi:10.1038/354227a0

Cited by 292 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The most obvious examples of honest plant signals are flowers that change colour once they have been pollinated (Figure 1f) [39]. These unrewarding flowers without nectar still contribute to attracting pollinators to as yet unpollinated flowers of the same plant from a long distance.…”

Section: Honest Signallingmentioning

confidence: 99%

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

Schaefer

Levey

2004

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

276

224

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Section: Honest Signallingmentioning

confidence: 99%

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

Schaefer

Levey

2004

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

276

224

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“…This pattern calls to mind the phenomenon of postpollination color change, in which older flowers turn color but remain turgid and are retained on the plant [reviewed by Weiss (52)]. Such flowers, though unrewarding, enhance pollinator attraction from a distance but are ignored once the insects arrive at the inflorescence because of learned color preferences (53). The second dimension of conditionality was context dependence, such that male first-visit preference for flowers with above-ambient CO 2 was constant irrespective of host-plant odor, whereas female preference for such flowers was observed only when they were presented in the context of oviposition cues (Fig.…”

Section: Context Dependence Of Female Responses In Binary-choice Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

Goyret

Markwell²,

Raguso³

2008

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

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fragrance ͉ odor ͉ olfaction ͉ pollination ͉ Sphingidae A nthophilous insects use information from a variety of sensory channels to locate flowers and feed from them (1). Thus, a crucial task for studying insect-plant interactions is to identify which components of the environment provide the sensory inputs used by insects, and to what extent context and scale affect their information content (2). Whereas flower colors and patterns (3, 4), whole-flower and nectar odors (5), and even corolla shape and texture are known features used by foraging insects and other nectivorous animals (6, 7), few studies have explicitly addressed the role of flower respiratory carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a stimulus involved in plant-pollinator interactions.Our knowledge of how insects use CO 2 as a sensory cue is derived primarily from studies of insects that vector diseases or attack crop plants. For example, many haematophagous insects use CO 2 to locate their animal hosts from a distance (8). Discontinuous CO 2 plumes modulate host-seeking behavior by mosquitoes (9, 10), suggesting that CO 2 acts as a long-range orientation stimulus (11). Tsetse flies and biting midges also use CO 2 as a long-range attractant that can synergize the attractiveness of other host odors (12, 13). However, CO 2 also functions as a close-range feeding stimulus (on the host's skin) for mosquitoes (8). CO 2 synergizes the attractiveness of some human skin odors to female yellow fever mosquitoes (14) and has been suggested to synergize triatomine bug responses to L(ϩ)-lactic acid (15).Some herbivorous insects show similar responses to CO 2 , although typically at closer range to its source than haematophagous insects. CO 2 alone is sufficient to guide Diabrotica virgifera beetle larvae toward corn roots (16), and larvae of noctuid (Helicoverpa armigera) (17) and pyralid (Elasmopalpus lignosellus) (18) moths orient to above-ambient CO 2 sources. Females of the pyralid moth Cactoblastis cactorum search for CO 2 sinks on photosynthetic stem surfaces of Opuntia stricta, as indicators of high carbon fixation activity (19). In this case, CO 2 gradients are used as close-range stimuli, as is true for tephritid flies that oviposit on fruit wounds, which provide a localized source of CO 2 and other olfactory oviposition stimulants (20). Finally, responses to CO 2 may be context-dependent. Tephritid flies respond to CO 2 when presented with a fruit-like visual stimulus (20). Within a certain concentration range, Drosophila melanogaster adults and larvae are repelled by CO 2 , and it has been suggested that these responses depend on the olfactory context (21).It is clear from the studies reviewed above that CO 2 may function alone or in concert with host odors, at a distance or at close range, via several behavioral mechanisms. Recent studies suggest that CO 2 may also contribute to the interactions between flowers and insect pollinators. Floral CO 2 is primarily associated with elevated respiratory activity in thermogenic flowers, including deceptive flowers that mim...

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“…The relative neglect of the role of floral colour may arise due to complexities in including the entire perceptual range of pollinators (300 -660 nm, Altshuler 2003). Many previous studies investigating floral colour in natural communities (Weiss 1991;Wilson & Stine 1996;Bosch et al 1997;Jones & Reithel 2001;Schemske & Bierzychudek 2001;Ishii 2006) have measured colour exclusively with the human perception of colour (e.g. chroma/hue metrics, wavelength range: 420 -600 nm) and thus may be categorizing some species as similar when, from a pollinators perspective, they are quite different.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral colour versus phylogeny in structuring subalpine flowering communities

2010

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The relative number of seeds produced by competing species can influence the community structure; yet, traits that influence seed production, such as pollinator attraction and floral colour, have received little attention in community ecology. Here, we analyse floral colour using reflectance spectra that include near-UV and examined the phylogenetic signal of floral colour. We found that coflowering species within communities tended to be more divergent in floral colour than expected by chance. However, coflowering species were not phylogenetically dispersed, in part due to our finding that floral colour is a labile trait with a weak phylogenetic signal. Furthermore, while we found that locally rare and common species exhibited equivalent floral colour distances from their coflowering neighbours, frequent species (those found in more communities) exhibited higher colour distances from their coflowering neighbours. Our findings support recent studies, which have found that (i) plant lineages exhibit frequent floral colour transitions; and (ii) traits that influence local population dynamics contribute to community structure.

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Floral colour changes as cues for pollinators

Cited by 292 publications

References 18 publications

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

Floral colour versus phylogeny in structuring subalpine flowering communities

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Floral colour changes as cues for pollinators

Cited by 292 publications

References 18 publications

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

How plant?animal interactions signal new insights in communication

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO 2 on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

Floral colour versus phylogeny in structuring subalpine flowering communities

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Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta