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Pollinator assemblage composition predicts trait divergence in a pollination-generalized plant

Torres-Vanegas, Felipe LU orcid ; Temesvári, Vanda ; García, Yedra LU ; Friberg, Magne LU and Opedal, Øystein H LU (2026) In Evolution 80(5). p.998-1012
Abstract

The causal role of pollinators in driving the divergence of plant traits is a fundamental tenet of angiosperm evolution, providing hallmark examples of evolution in response to natural selection. However, it remains unclear how geographic variation in pollinator assemblages relates to the divergence of pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. We characterized pollinator assemblages that interacted with Viscaria vulgaris in southern Sweden, and evaluated, through statistical dimension reduction, whether pollination traits were associated with an inferred main axis of geographic variation in pollinator assemblages. We documented a functionally broad range of pollinators that visited V. vulgaris. Although the most frequent... (More)

The causal role of pollinators in driving the divergence of plant traits is a fundamental tenet of angiosperm evolution, providing hallmark examples of evolution in response to natural selection. However, it remains unclear how geographic variation in pollinator assemblages relates to the divergence of pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. We characterized pollinator assemblages that interacted with Viscaria vulgaris in southern Sweden, and evaluated, through statistical dimension reduction, whether pollination traits were associated with an inferred main axis of geographic variation in pollinator assemblages. We documented a functionally broad range of pollinators that visited V. vulgaris. Although the most frequent pollinator functional groups were present in most populations, their relative contribution to flower visitation varied across the study area, establishing a geographic mosaic of pollinator assemblages. We demonstrate that the geographic variation in pollinator assemblages can predict the divergence of pollination traits in V. vulgaris. The findings of this geographic comparative study are consistent with the hypothesis that geographic variation in pollinator assemblages drives the divergence of pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. Thus, generalized plant–pollinator interactions do not preclude the divergence of pollination traits, which may maximize the collective contribution of local pollinator assemblages rather than that of a principal pollinator.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
adaptation, geographic selection mosaic, phenotypic selection, pollination, qualitative and quantitative pollinator shifts, Viscaria vulgaris
in
Evolution
volume
80
issue
5
pages
15 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:41757704
  • scopus:105038701194
ISSN
1558-5646
DOI
10.1093/evolut/qpag030
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
876c308e-aefb-4d99-a564-60b17cfcb5c0
date added to LUP
2026-03-03 10:09:28
date last changed
2026-05-28 10:21:24
@article{876c308e-aefb-4d99-a564-60b17cfcb5c0,
  abstract     = {{<p>The causal role of pollinators in driving the divergence of plant traits is a fundamental tenet of angiosperm evolution, providing hallmark examples of evolution in response to natural selection. However, it remains unclear how geographic variation in pollinator assemblages relates to the divergence of pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. We characterized pollinator assemblages that interacted with Viscaria vulgaris in southern Sweden, and evaluated, through statistical dimension reduction, whether pollination traits were associated with an inferred main axis of geographic variation in pollinator assemblages. We documented a functionally broad range of pollinators that visited V. vulgaris. Although the most frequent pollinator functional groups were present in most populations, their relative contribution to flower visitation varied across the study area, establishing a geographic mosaic of pollinator assemblages. We demonstrate that the geographic variation in pollinator assemblages can predict the divergence of pollination traits in V. vulgaris. The findings of this geographic comparative study are consistent with the hypothesis that geographic variation in pollinator assemblages drives the divergence of pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. Thus, generalized plant–pollinator interactions do not preclude the divergence of pollination traits, which may maximize the collective contribution of local pollinator assemblages rather than that of a principal pollinator.</p>}},
  author       = {{Torres-Vanegas, Felipe and Temesvári, Vanda and García, Yedra and Friberg, Magne and Opedal, Øystein H}},
  issn         = {{1558-5646}},
  keywords     = {{adaptation; geographic selection mosaic; phenotypic selection; pollination; qualitative and quantitative pollinator shifts; Viscaria vulgaris}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{998--1012}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Evolution}},
  title        = {{Pollinator assemblage composition predicts trait divergence in a pollination-generalized plant}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag030}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/evolut/qpag030}},
  volume       = {{80}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}