Disentangling the role of floral sensory stimuli in pollination networks

Kantsa, Aphrodite; Raguso, Robert A.; Dyer, Adrian G.; Olesen, Jens M.; Tscheulin, Thomas; Petanidou, Theodora

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03448-w

Cited by 81 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 93 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous studies have illustrated the importance of floral VOCs in community‐level plant–pollinator interactions, mainly in Mediterranean systems with disparate groups of pollinator taxa (Kantsa et al, ; Kantsa et al, ). Here, in a mesic montane meadow, we show that floral volatiles contributed to the nested structure but not the modular structure of forb–bee interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, at a broader spatial or temporal scale that would encompass several pollination syndromes and greater phylogenetic diversity, we might expect a stronger signal of floral VOCs to the modules that these broad taxonomic pairings could create. For example, although Kantsa et al () did not explicitly evaluate network‐level metrics of plant–pollinator interaction structure (e.g. modularity or nestedness) with respect to floral VOCs, they found that one group of floral VOCs—sesquiterpenes—was related to the distribution of plant–pollinator interactions (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One factor that has received insufficient investigation as a contributor to network nestedness is the VOCs emitted by flowers. Pollinators are known to exhibit preferences for certain combinations, or ‘bouquets’, of volatile compounds (Dobson, ; Wright, Lutmerding, Dudareva, & Smith, ), and these preferences can correlate with patterns of visitation (Junker, Hocherl, & Bluthgen, ; Kantsa et al, ). We might expect generalist pollinators to be attracted, in part, to many forb species with a range of floral VOCs, and specialist pollinators to be attracted to fewer forb species that emit similar, specific suites of floral VOCs that are nested subsets of generalist bouquets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Floral volatiles structure plant–pollinator interactions in a diverse community across the growing season

Burkle

Runyon

2019

Functional Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While the importance of floral odours for pollinator attraction relative to visual cues is increasingly appreciated, how they structure community‐level plant–pollinator interactions is poorly understood. Elucidating the functional roles of flowering plant species with respect to their floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and how those roles vary over the growing season is an initial step towards understanding the contribution of floral VOCs to plant–pollinator interaction structure. We sampled the floral VOCs, phenologies and bee visitors of naturally growing plants in a montane meadow in the Northern Rocky Mountains of USA in order to acquire a base understanding of how floral VOCs and other plant traits may structure plant–pollinator interactions across the growing season. We expected forb species with floral VOCs that were original (far from the community mean) and unique (far from the nearest neighbour) would have few pollinating partners (i.e. specialists), while forbs with non‐original or highly variable floral VOCs would form the generalist core of interactors, thereby contributing to network nestedness (specialists interacting with nested subsets of generalists). Network modularity (patterns of distinct, highly connected subnetworks) could be influenced by groups of pollinators that are attracted to or repelled by certain floral bouquets. Species blooming in early spring emitted similar floral VOC blends containing generalist attractants, whereas floral VOC complexity was highest in mid to late summer. Forb species varied in the originality, uniqueness, and intraspecific variation (i.e. dispersion) of their floral VOCs, indicating the potential for different functional roles in plant–pollinator networks. Specifically, the originality, uniqueness and dispersion of forb species’ floral VOCs increased across the growing season. Floral VOCs influenced forb interactions with pollinators. Floral VOCs contributed to the nested structure, but not modular structure, of community‐level plant–pollinator network structure. Forb species with more original floral VOCs were less connected, while forb species emitting more compounds and with higher intraspecific variation in floral VOCs were more connected to pollinators. These findings show that floral scent plays important roles in structuring bee–forb interactions and guiding seasonal patterns in complex communities. Understanding seasonal patterns in floral VOCs may have important implications for plant–pollinator interactions among communities differing in species composition, or as shifts occur in suites of co‐flowering species due to climate change. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Floral volatiles structure plant–pollinator interactions in a diverse community across the growing season

Burkle

Runyon

2019

Functional Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Migratory hummingbirds have significantly higher c-values, that is, a relatively high proportion of their interactions are with plant species from other modules, increasing overall network cohesiveness (Olesen et al 2007;Tylianakis et al 2010;Stouffer and Bascompte 2011) and the potential importance of indirect interactions. In highly seasonal pollination networks this role is achieved by pollinator species with long phenophases, who connected species with much more restricted activity periods (Martín González et al 2012;Kantsa et al 2018). Modular networks are expected to be highly resilient, as disturbances are less likely to spread beyond modules (Olesen et al 2007;Tylianakis et al 2010;Stouffer and Bascompte 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, the study of interactions between plants and their pollinators over different seasons and years, including species whose phenophases may not fully overlap, has enabled us to explore the effect of climate, resource seasonality and species phenophases on community structure and species' roles. Besides a more accurate understanding of community structure and build up, these networks allow us to characterize more accurate the role of species and potential fluctuations over time (Martín González et al 2012;Chacoff et al 2017, Kantsa et al 2018. Similarly, the study of "meta-networks", i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-networks for the study of biogeographical traits in ecological networks: the Mexican hummingbird-plant assemblage

González

Ornelas

Dalsgaard

et al. 2018

Sci Nat

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent studies on ecological networks have quantified the contribution of ecological, historical and evolutionary factors on the structure of local communities of interacting species. However, the influence of species' biogeographical traits, such as migratory habits or phylogeographical history, on ecological networks is poorly understood. Meta-networks, i.e. networks that cover large spatial extensions and include species not co-occurring locally, enable us to investigate mechanisms that operate at larger spatial scales such as migratory patterns or phylogeographical distributions, as well as indirect relationships among species through shared partners. Using a meta-network of hummingbird-plant interaction across Mexico we illustrate the usefulness of this approach by investigating (1) how biogeographical and morphological factors associate with observed interactions, and (2) how species-specific biogeographical characteristics associate with species' network roles. Our results show that all studied hummingbird and plant species in the meta-network were interrelated, either directly or through shared partners. The meta-network was structured into modules, resulting from hummingbirds and plants interacting preferentially with subsets of species, which differed in biogeographical, and, to a lesser extent, morphological traits. Furthermore, migrants and hummingbirds from Nearctic, Transition and widespread regions had a higher topological importance in the meta-network. Taken together, this study illustrates how metanetworks may contribute to our current knowledge on species biogeographical traits and biotic interactions, providing a perspective complementary to local-scale networks.

show abstract

Intrafloral patterns of color and scent in Capparis spinosa L. and the ghosts of its selection past

Kantsa

Garcia

Raguso

et al. 2022

American J of Botany

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Premise Capparis spinosa is a widespread charismatic plant, in which the nocturnal floral habit contrasts with the high visitation by diurnal bees and the pronounced scarcity of hawkmoths. To resolve this discrepancy and elucidate floral evolution of C. spinosa, we analyzed the intrafloral patterns of visual and olfactory cues in relation to the known sensory biases of the different visitor guilds (bees, butterflies, and hawkmoths). Methods We measured the intrafloral variation of scent, reflectance spectra, and colorimetric properties according to three guilds of known visitors of C. spinosa. Additionally, we sampled visitation rates using a motion‐activated camera. Results Carpenter bees visited the flowers eight times more frequently than nocturnal hawkmoths, at dusk and in the following morning. Yet, the floral headspace of C. spinosa contained a typical sphingophilous scent with high emission rates of certain monoterpenes and amino‐acid derived compounds. Visual cues included a special case of multisensory nectar guide and color patterns conspicuous to the visual systems of both hawkmoths and bees. Conclusions The intrafloral patterns of sensory stimuli suggest that hawkmoths have exerted strong historical selection on C. spinosa. Our study revealed two interesting paradoxes: (a) the flowers phenotypically biased towards the more inconsistent pollinator; and (b) floral display demands an abundance of resources that seems maladaptive in the habitats of C. spinosa. The transition to a binary pollination system accommodating large bees has not required phenotypic changes, owing to specific eco‐physiological adaptations, unrelated to pollination, which make this plant an unusual case in pollination ecology.

show abstract

Disentangling the role of floral sensory stimuli in pollination networks

Cited by 81 publications

References 93 publications

Floral volatiles structure plant–pollinator interactions in a diverse community across the growing season

Floral volatiles structure plant–pollinator interactions in a diverse community across the growing season

Meta-networks for the study of biogeographical traits in ecological networks: the Mexican hummingbird-plant assemblage

Intrafloral patterns of color and scent in Capparis spinosa L. and the ghosts of its selection past

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About