Are the New World hummingbird‐hawkmoths functional equivalents of hummingbirds?

Amorim, Felipe W.

doi:10.1002/ecy.3161

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For instance, the ability of hawkmoths of exploiting plants belonging to different pollination syndromes is consistent with the evidence that these animals play the role of ecological generalists in their communities, especially long‐tongued ones, and reinforces their role as connectors of nocturnal, and perhaps even diurnal, pollination systems (Haber & Frankie, 1989; Nilsson et al., 1987). The exploitation by hawkmoths of flowers with less restrictive shapes reached even species belonging to other syndromes beyond chiropterophily, especially by small‐tongued hawkmoths (e.g., Amorim, 2020). Much like many chiropterophilous plants, species such as Anadenanthera colubrina , and those from the genera Combretum and Croton exhibit lush brush‐like inflorescences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bats and hawkmoths form mixed modules with flowering plants in a nocturnal interaction network

Queiroz¹,

Diniz

Vázquez

et al. 2020

Biotropica

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Based on the conceptual framework of pollination syndromes, pollination networks should be composed of well-delimited subgroups formed by plants that diverge in floral phenotypes and are visited by taxonomically different pollinators. Nevertheless, floral traits are not always accurate in predicting floral visitors. For instance, flowers adapted to bat-pollination are larger and wider, enabling the exploitation by other nocturnal animals, such as hawkmoths. Thus, should an interaction network comprising bats and hawkmoths, the most important nocturnal pollinators in the tropics, be formed of mixed-taxon modules due to cross-syndrome interactions? Here, we analyzed such a network to test whether resource plants are shared between the two taxa, and how modules differ in terms of species morphologies. We sampled interactions through pollen grains collected from floral visitors in a Caatinga dry forest in northeastern Brazil. The network was modular yet interwoven by cross-syndrome interactions. Hawkmoths showed no restriction to visit the wider chiropterophilous flowers. Furthermore, bats represented a subset of a hawkmoth-dominated network, as they were restricted to chiropterophilous flowers due to constraints in accessing narrower sphingophilous flowers. As such, the bat-dominated module encompassed relatively wider flowers, but hawkmoths, especially long-tongued ones, were unrestricted by floral width or length. Thus, pollination of flowers with open architectures must be investigated with caution, as they are accessible to a wide array of floral visitors, which may result in mixed-pollination systems. Future research should continue to integrate different syndromes and pollinator groups in order to reach a better understanding of how pollination-related functions emerge from community-level interactions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modular networks are formed by subgroups of species that interact more among themselves than with the rest of the community (Dupont & Olesen, 2009). In pollination networks, modularity can reveal patterns of niche specialization between interacting species (Amorim, 2020; Maruyama et al., 2014; Phillips et al., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bats and hawkmoths form mixed modules with flowering plants in a nocturnal interaction network

Queiroz¹,

Diniz

Vázquez

et al. 2020

Biotropica

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“…Then, we used modularity analysis to identify the realized pollinator niche of S . grandiflora among the available pollination niches in the community (as in Amorim, 2020; Phillips et al, 2020). Despite S .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The quantitative matrix was weighted by the interaction frequency for each pair of species (a ij ), as the number of individual hawkmoths j carrying pollen from a given plant species i(Sazatornil et al, 2016). Then, we used modularity analysis to identify the realized pollinator niche of S. grandiflora among the available pollination niches in the community (as inAmorim, 2020;Phillips et al, 2020). Despite S. grandiflora blooming only from December to February, we considered the whole year for modularity analysis because hawkmoth species interacting with S. grandiflora also occur in other months interacting with several plant species throughout the year.…”

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confidence: 99%

Short flowers for long tongues: Functional specialization in a nocturnal pollination network of an asclepiad in long‐tongued hawkmoths

et al. 2022

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Since Darwin, very long and narrow floral tubes have been known to represent the main floral morphological feature for specialized long‐tongued hawkmoth pollination. However, specialization may be driven by other contrivances instead of floral tube morphology. Asclepiads are plants with a complex floral morphology where primary hawkmoth pollination had never been described. We detailed here the intricate pollination mechanism of the South American asclepiad Schubertia grandiflora, where functional specialization on long‐tongued hawkmoth pollinators occurs despite the short floral tube of this species. We studied two plant populations in the Brazilian Cerrado and recorded floral visitors using different approaches, such as light‐trapped hawkmoths for pollen analysis, direct field observations, and IR motion‐activated cameras. Finally, using a community‐level approach we applied an ecological network analysis to identify the realized pollinator niche of S. grandiflora among the available niches in the pollinator community. Throughout a period of 17 years, long‐tongued hawkmoths were consistently recorded as the main floral visitors and the only effective pollinators of S. grandiflora. Flowers rely on highly modified corona and gynostegium, and enlarged nectar chambers, to drive visitors and pollination mechanism. Despite its relative short‐tube, network analysis placed S. grandiflora in the module including exclusively long‐tongued hawkmoth pollinators and the most phenotypically specialized sphingophilous plants in the community. These results represent the first example of functional specialization in long‐tongued hawkmoths in an asclepiad species. However, this specialization is uncoupled from the long floral tubes historically associated with the sphingophily syndrome. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.

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“…In biological communities, niche partitioning based on trophic specialization may be associated with multispecies reciprocal selection, i.e., diffuse coevolution, resulting in modular network structure (Olesen et al, 2007). Modularity is known to emerge in plant-hawkmoth networks possibly owing to behavioral differences in the foraging times of some hawkmoth species and the time of flower anthesis, in addition to morphological and phenological constraints (Amorim, 2020;Lautenschleger et al, 2020). Modules may reflect variations in pollinator traits and their efficiency in obtaining resources, which is reinforced by the influence of functional traits playing a key role on the structure of hawkmoth communities (Johnson et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary history and ecological traits shape a mutualistic plant-hawkmoth interaction network

Cavalheiro

Vizentin‐Bugoni

Spaniol

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Multiple non-exclusive processes influence species interactions and shape ecological networks. Although evolutionary history may influence interactions via shared inherited traits, its relative importance in comparison neutral and niche-based processes remain poorly understood. Here we investigate the effects of evolutionary history on interaction frequencies and the emergence of modularity in interaction networks compared to ecological and neutral processes through a study case of a plant-hawkmoth network on Pampa grasslands. Using morphological, phenological, abundance and phylogenetic data for every species in community, we found that interaction frequencies increase as morphological matching and phenological overlap increase, and evolutionarily isolated hawkmoth species tend to interact with plants more frequently. Further, by evaluating whether hawkmoth composition differs among interaction modules, we found that modules encompass phylogenetically distant and functionally distinct hawkmoth species. These results along with the phylogenetic signal detected for morphological traits suggest that competition among pollinators shape interaction patterns. Nevertheless, modules composition may indicate that despite evolutionary history and ecological traits influence interactions frequencies, modules emergence is not only directly influenced by these processes, but potentially also by a strong environmental filtering or stochastic factors.

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Are the New World hummingbird‐hawkmoths functional equivalents of hummingbirds?

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Bats and hawkmoths form mixed modules with flowering plants in a nocturnal interaction network

Bats and hawkmoths form mixed modules with flowering plants in a nocturnal interaction network

Short flowers for long tongues: Functional specialization in a nocturnal pollination network of an asclepiad in long‐tongued hawkmoths

Evolutionary history and ecological traits shape a mutualistic plant-hawkmoth interaction network

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