Low abundance of long-tongued pollinators leads to pollen limitation in four specialized hawkmoth-pollinated plants in the Atlantic Rain forest, Brazil

Amorim, Felipe W.; Wyatt, Graham E.

doi:10.1007/s00114-014-1230-y

Cited by 46 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Such limitation may be caused by a lack of pollinators in the plant habitat (see Amorim et al . for two pollen‐limited sphingophylous orchids at one of the study areas) or by hummingbird preferences for nearby nectar‐rich species, as observed in the hummingbird‐pollinated Comparettia falcata in Puerto Rico (Meléndez‐Ackerman et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Pollination ecology of two species of Elleanthus (Orchidaceae): novel mechanisms and underlying adaptations to hummingbird pollination

et al. 2015

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Relationships among floral biology, floral micromorphology and pollinator behaviour in bird-pollinated orchids are important issues to understand the evolution of the huge flower diversity within Orchidaceae. We aimed to investigate floral mechanisms underlying the interaction with pollinators in two hummingbird-pollinated orchids occurring in the Atlantic forest. We assessed floral biology, nectar traits, nectary and column micromorphologies, breeding systems and pollinators. In both species, nectar is secreted by lip calli through spaces between the medial lamellar surfaces of epidermal cells. Such a form of floral nectar secretion has not been previously described. Both species present functional protandry and are self-compatible yet pollinator-dependent. Fruit set in hand-pollination experiments was more than twice that under natural conditions, evidencing pollen limitation. The absence of fruit set in interspecific crosses suggests the existence of post-pollination barriers between these sympatric co-flowering species. In Elleanthus brasiliensis, fruits resulting from cross-pollination and natural conditions were heavier than those resulting from self-pollination, suggesting advantages to cross-pollination. Hummingbirds pollinated both species, which share at least one pollinator species. Species differences in floral morphologies led to distinct pollination mechanisms. In E. brasiliensis, attachment of pollinarium to the hummingbird bill occurs through a lever apparatus formed by an appendage in the column, another novelty to our knowledge of orchid pollination. In E. crinipes, pollinarium attachment occurs by simple contact with the bill during insertion into the flower tube, which fits tightly around it. The novelties described here illustrate the overlooked richness in ecology and morphophysiology in Orchidaceae.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Pollination ecology of two species of Elleanthus (Orchidaceae): novel mechanisms and underlying adaptations to hummingbird pollination

et al. 2015

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“…In these three communities, long‐tongued hawkmoths are much less abundant than their short‐tongued counterparts (Moré, Sérsic & Cocucci ; Amorim et al . ; Amorim, Wyatt & Sazima ) making nectar access in short‐tubed flowers less profitable than in long‐tubed flowers. On the other hand, the two communities where the interaction patterns were not consistent with the morphological match hypothesis presented similar abundances of long‐ and short‐tongued hawkmoths (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Captured hawkmoths were kept in individual entomological envelopes to avoid pollen contamination among individuals. For general details of the moth collecting method, see Amorim, Wyatt & Sazima () for AF, Amorim et al . () for CE and Moré () for CE, CY1 and CY2 communities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond neutral and forbidden links: morphological matches and the assembly of mutualistic hawkmoth–plant networks

Sazatornil

Moré

Benitez‐Vieyra

et al. 2016

Journal of Animal Ecology

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114

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A major challenge in evolutionary ecology is to understand how co-evolutionary processes shape patterns of interactions between species at community level. Pollination of flowers with long corolla tubes by long-tongued hawkmoths has been invoked as a showcase model of co-evolution. Recently, optimal foraging models have predicted that there might be a close association between mouthparts' length and the corolla depth of the visited flowers, thus favouring trait convergence and specialization at community level. Here, we assessed whether hawkmoths more frequently pollinate plants with floral tube lengths similar to their proboscis lengths (morphological match hypothesis) against abundance-based processes (neutral hypothesis) and ecological trait mismatches constraints (forbidden links hypothesis), and how these processes structure hawkmoth-plant mutualistic networks from five communities in four biogeographical regions of South America. We found convergence in morphological traits across the five communities and that the distribution of morphological differences between hawkmoths and plants is consistent with expectations under the morphological match hypothesis in three of the five communities. In the two remaining communities, which are ecotones between two distinct biogeographical areas, interactions are better predicted by the neutral hypothesis. Our findings are consistent with the idea that diffuse co-evolution drives the evolution of extremely long proboscises and flower tubes, and highlight the importance of morphological traits, beyond the forbidden links hypothesis, in structuring interactions between mutualistic partners, revealing that the role of niche-based processes can be much more complex than previously known.

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“…Hawkmoths are ideal subjects for examining the importance of proboscis length as a niche axis for plants because proboscis length varies widely (from 1 to 28 cm) in this insect group (Miller ; Kitching & Cadiou ) and because a large number of unrelated plant species across the globe show convergent evolution of flowers that are specifically adapted to these insects (Silberbauer‐Gottsberger & Gottsberger ; Grant ; Martins & Johnson ; Amorim, Wyatt & Sazima ) (Fig. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The long and the short of it: a global analysis of hawkmoth pollination niches and interaction networks

et al. 2016

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Summary 1. Proboscis length has been proposed as a key dimension of plant pollination niches, but this niche space has not previously been explored at regional and global scales for any pollination system. Hawkmoths are ideal organisms for exploring pollinator niches as they are important pollinators in most of the biodiverse regions of the earth and vary greatly in proboscis length, with some species having the longest proboscides of all insects. 2. Using datasets for nine biogeographical regions spanning the Old and New World, we ask whether it is possible to identify distinct hawkmoth pollination niches based on the frequency distribution of proboscis length, and whether these niches are reflected in the depths of flowers that are pollinated by hawkmoths. We also investigate the levels of specialization in hawkmoth pollination systems at the regional and community level using data from interaction network studies. 3. We found that most regional hawkmoth assemblages have bimodal or multimodal distributions of proboscis length, and that these are matched by similar distributions of floral tube lengths. Hawkmoths, particularly those with longer proboscides, are polyphagous and at the network level show foraging specialization equivalent to or less than that of bees and hummingbirds. In the case of plants, shorter-tubed flowers are usually visited by numerous hawkmoth species, while those that are longer-tubed tend to exclude shorter-proboscid hawkmoths and thus become ecologically specialized on longer-proboscid hawkmoth species. Longer-tubed flowers tend to have greater nectar rewards and this promotes short-term constancy by long-proboscid hawkmoths. 4. Our results show that pollinator proboscis length is a key niche axis for plants and can account for patterns of evolution in functional traits such as floral tube length and nectar volume. We also highlight a paradoxical trend for nectar resource niche breadth to increase according to proboscis length of pollinators, while pollinator niche breadth decreases according to the tube length of flowers.

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Low abundance of long-tongued pollinators leads to pollen limitation in four specialized hawkmoth-pollinated plants in the Atlantic Rain forest, Brazil

Cited by 46 publications

References 51 publications

Pollination ecology of two species of Elleanthus (Orchidaceae): novel mechanisms and underlying adaptations to hummingbird pollination

Pollination ecology of two species of Elleanthus (Orchidaceae): novel mechanisms and underlying adaptations to hummingbird pollination

Beyond neutral and forbidden links: morphological matches and the assembly of mutualistic hawkmoth–plant networks

The long and the short of it: a global analysis of hawkmoth pollination niches and interaction networks

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