Floral traits are associated with the quality but not quantity of heterospecific stigmatic pollen loads

Peuker, Manon A.; Burger, Hannah; Krausch, Sabrina; Neumüller, Ulrich; Ayasse, Manfred; Kuppler, Jonas

doi:10.1186/s12898-020-00323-5

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Floral traits were key in determining HP α diversity, and this arose via influencing HP receipt (HP load). Similar to our findings, stigma area has been found to increase HP load while stigma‐anther distance decreased HP load (e.g., Montgomery & Rathcke, 2012; Wei et al., 2021; but see Peuker et al., 2020). As a result of hosting large HP loads, plant species with large stigma areas experienced stigmatic HP communities with high species richness (α diversity).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Evaluating the influences of floral traits and pollinator generalism on α and β diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas

Ashman,

Wei

2023

Functional Ecology

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Pollinator sharing often leads to receipt of heterospecific pollen (HP) along with conspecific pollen. As a result, flowering plants can accumulate diverse communities of HP on stigmas. While variation in HP diversity is an important selective force contributing to flowering plant fitness, evolution and community assembly, our understanding of the extent and drivers of heterogeneity of HP diversity is limited. In this study, we examined the species compositions and abundances of ~1000 HP communities across 59 co‐flowering plant species in three serpentine seep communities in California, USA. We evaluated the variation in HP diversity (γ diversity) across plant species in each seep and asked whether the variation in HP γ diversity was caused by variation in HP diversity within stigmas (α diversity) or HP compositional variation among stigmas (β diversity) due to the replacement of HP species (turnover) or their loss (nestedness) from one stigma to another. We further evaluated the potential drivers of variation in HP α and β diversity using phylogenetic structural equation models. We found that variation in HP γ diversity across plant species was driven strongly by differences among species in HP α diversity and to a lesser extent by HP β diversity. HP community turnover contributed more to HP β diversity than nestedness consistently across plant species and seeps, suggesting a general pattern of HP compositional heterogeneity from stigma to stigma. The phylogenetic structural equation models further revealed that floral traits (e.g., stigma area, stigma‐anther distance, stigma exposure) and floral abundance were key in determining HP α diversity by influencing HP abundance (load size), while floral traits and abundance showed variable impact on HP β diversity (turnover and nestedness). Pollination generalism contributed relatively less to HP‐α and β diversity. These findings disentangle the heterogeneity in HP diversity at different levels, which is essential for understanding the process underlying patterns of HP receipt in plant communities. That floral traits drive the heterogeneity in HP diversity points to additional avenues by which HP receipt may contribute to plant evolution. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Evaluating the influences of floral traits and pollinator generalism on α and β diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas

Ashman,

Wei

2023

Functional Ecology

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“…Finally, a capillary tube with an inner diameter Dc = 0.8 mm containing a sweet solution of known sugar concentration (or equivalently, viscosity) was presented to the bumblebee. The inner diameter is similar to the nectar tube width of some plants visited by Bombus (48,49). The experiments were recorded by a camera Logitech C920 at 30 frames per second (Movie S1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Essential role of papillae flexibility in nectar capture by bees

Lechantre

Draux

Hua

et al. 2021

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

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Many bees possess a tongue resembling a brush composed of a central rod (glossa) covered by elongated papillae, which is dipped periodically into nectar to collect this primary source of energy. In vivo measurements show that the amount of nectar collected per lap remains essentially constant for sugar concentrations lower than 50% but drops significantly for a concentration around 70%. To understand this variation of the ingestion rate with the sugar content of nectar, we investigate the dynamics of fluid capture by Bombus terrestris as a model system. During the dipping process, the papillae, which initially adhere to the glossa, unfold when immersed in the nectar. Combining in vivo investigations, macroscopic experiments with flexible rods, and an elastoviscous theoretical model, we show that the capture mechanism is governed by the relaxation dynamics of the bent papillae, driven by their elastic recoil slowed down through viscous dissipation. At low sugar concentrations, the papillae completely open before the tongue retracts out of nectar and thus, fully contribute to the fluid capture. In contrast, at larger concentrations corresponding to the drop of the ingestion rate, the viscous dissipation strongly hinders the papillae opening, reducing considerably the amount of nectar captured. This study shows the crucial role of flexible papillae, whose aspect ratio determines the optimal nectar concentration, to understand quantitatively the capture of nectar by bees and how physics can shed some light on the degree of adaptation of a specific morphological trait.

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“…Studies involving ecological networks have shown that most plant species in a community receive heterospecific pollen (Fang and Huang 2013). In addition, the frequency and intensity of HPD varies between communities, probably because each community presents different plant–pollinator interaction patterns (Tur et al 2016, Johnson and Ashman 2019, Peuker et al 2020, Parra‐Tabla et al 2021). Such interaction patterns also vary between years within the same community (Alarcón et al 2008, CaraDonna et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterospecific pollen deposition is positively associated with reproductive success in a diverse hummingbird‐pollinated plant community

Lopes

Bergamo

Queiroz

et al. 2021

Oikos

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Heterospecific pollen deposition (HPD) is ubiquitous across plant communities, especially for generalized species which use a diversity of pollinators, and may have negative effects on plant reproduction. However, it is unclear whether temporal changes in the co‐flowering community result in changes in HPD patterns. Moreover, community‐level studies are required to understand which factors influence HPD and how the reproduction of different species is affected. We investigated the temporal variation of HPD, its relationship with level of specialization on pollinators and floral phenotypic specialization, and its association with reproductive success (pollen limitation and fruit set) in 31 hummingbird‐pollinated plant species in a tropical Campo Rupestre. We found seasonality in HPD, with species flowering in the dry season having greater diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas and a higher frequency of stigmas containing heterospecific pollen, compared to the rainy season. Stigmas of ecologically generalized species had more heterospecific pollen, while the relationship for ecologically specialized species depended on floral phenotype. Surprisingly, and in contrast to theory, we found a positive relationship between HPD and reproductive success. Our results indicate benefits of generalization and facilitation, in which sharing pollinators brings greater reproductive success via increased conspecific pollen deposition, even if it incurs more HPD. We demonstrated how assessing HPD at a community‐level can contribute to understanding the ecological causes and functional consequences of pollinator sharing.

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Floral traits are associated with the quality but not quantity of heterospecific stigmatic pollen loads

Cited by 8 publications

References 51 publications

Evaluating the influences of floral traits and pollinator generalism on α and β diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas

Evaluating the influences of floral traits and pollinator generalism on α and β diversity of heterospecific pollen on stigmas

Essential role of papillae flexibility in nectar capture by bees

Heterospecific pollen deposition is positively associated with reproductive success in a diverse hummingbird‐pollinated plant community

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