Evolution of stamen dimetrism in Melastomataceae, a large radiation of pollen flowers

Melo, Lílian Rodrigues Ferreira de; Vasconcelos, Thaís; Reginato, Marcelo; Caetano, Ana Paula Souza; Brito, Vinícius Lourenço Garcia de

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2021.125589

Cited by 22 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…In fact, some of the species studied here are apomitic and have small flowers without stamen dimophism, such as Miconia xanthocoma, M. dodecandra, M. ibaguensis and M. albicans (dos Brito et al 2017). On the other hand, during the evolutionary history of Melastomataceae family, the dependence on pollinators for fruit set has possibly favoured the evolution of larger flowers with dimorphic stamens (Melo et al 2021). Whether the correlation of floral traits with the stamen dimorphism reveals two major floral syndromes associated to different breeding systems in Melastomataceae remains to be tested.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Species within Melastomataceae present flowers with and without stamen dimorphism (Fig. 1; Melo et al 2021). Most species are pollinated by buzzing bees (Buchmann, 1983;Renner, 1989) but with varied level of specialization, and some species also interact with other groups of pollinators (Larson & Barrett, 1999;Varassin et al 2008;Brito et al 2016Brito et al , 2017Dellinger et al 2019a).…”

Section: Study Area and Plant Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…bees that extract pollen from anthers by vibration, may promote a specific selective pressure on flowers. However, despite the fact that stamen dimorphism has appeared in correlation with pollen flowers many times in the evolutionary history of angiosperms, this trait is considered evolutionarily labile (Vallejo-Mar ın et al 2010;Melo et al 2021). Furthermore, many pollen flowers do not possess dimorphic stamens, but rather present a set of isomorphic stamens (Melo et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flower morphology and plant–bee pollinator interactions are related to stamen dimorphism in Melastomataceae

et al. 2021

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Approximately 20,000 species of flowering plant offer mainly pollen to their pollinators, generally bees. Stamen dimorphism, a floral trait commonly present in some pollen flowers, is thought to be associated with exclusive pollen provision for highly effective bee pollinators. Notwithstanding, little is known about how stamen dimorphism is related to other floral morphological traits and, consequently, plant-pollinator interactions at the community scale. Here we investigated the relationship between stamen dimorphism and other floral morphological traits, as well as the interactions with pollinators in plants of Melastomataceae.• We characterized each plant species as stamen dimorphic or stamen isomorphic according to differences in size and shape between stamen sets. Data on interactions between the plants and their bee pollinators were analysed as quantitative bipartite networks.• We found that petal and style size and shape were correlated to stamen dimorphism.Stamen dimorphic species present larger flowers and less variable style shapes than stamen isomorphic species. Furthermore, stamen dimorphism is associated with higher richness of visiting bees, i.e. higher ecological generalization.• During the evolutionary history of Melastomataceae, the dependence on pollinators for fruit set has possibly favoured the evolution of larger flowers with dimorphic stamens, which in turn are able to make use of a larger spectrum of pollen-collecting bees, leading to ecological generalization.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Study Area and Plant Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flower morphology and plant–bee pollinator interactions are related to stamen dimorphism in Melastomataceae

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“…1), developmental constraints are likely not hindering its evolution both in this group and the family as a whole (Melo et al. 2021). We propose that heteranthery is particularly likely to evolve only when stamen dimorphism itself increases the probability of receiving multiple independent pollinator visits, and hence higher chances for cross‐pollination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2010; Melo et al. 2021). Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this rarity, including the overall rarity of pollen‐flowers, the idea that most pollen‐flowers may actually not suffer from excessive pollen consumption by bees (Harder and Wilson 1998), or that pollen‐deposition in safe versus un‐safe sites does not come along with a significant fitness gain (Vallejo‐Marín et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stamen dimorphism in bird‐pollinated flowers: Investigating alternative hypotheses on the evolution of heteranthery

et al. 2021

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Heteranthery, the presence of distinct stamen types within a flower, is commonly explained as functional adaptation to alleviate the “pollen dilemma,” defined as the dual and conflicting function of pollen as pollinator food resource and male reproductive agent. A single primary hypothesis, “division of labor,” has been central in studies on heteranthery. This hypothesis postulates that one stamen type functions in rewarding pollen‐collecting pollinators and the other in reproduction, thereby minimizing pollen loss. Only recently, alternative functions (i.e., staggered pollen release), were proposed, but comparative and experimental investigations are lagging behind. Here, we used 63 species of the tribe Merianieae (Melastomataceae) to demonstrate that, against theory, heteranthery occurs in flowers offering rewards other than pollen, such as staminal food bodies or nectar. Although shifts in reward type released species from the “pollen dilemma,” heteranthery has evolved repeatedly de novo in food‐body‐rewarding, passerine‐pollinated flowers. We used field investigations to show that foraging passerines discriminated between stamen types and removed large stamens more quickly than small stamens. Passerines removed small stamens on separate visits towards the end of flower anthesis. We propose that the staggered increase in nutritive content of small stamens functions to increase chances for outcross‐pollen transfer.

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Melastomataceae

Eggli,

Almeda

2022

Dicotyledons: Rosids

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Evolution of stamen dimetrism in Melastomataceae, a large radiation of pollen flowers

Cited by 22 publications

References 73 publications

Flower morphology and plant–bee pollinator interactions are related to stamen dimorphism in Melastomataceae

Flower morphology and plant–bee pollinator interactions are related to stamen dimorphism in Melastomataceae

Stamen dimorphism in bird‐pollinated flowers: Investigating alternative hypotheses on the evolution of heteranthery

Melastomataceae

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