Active pollination favours sexual dimorphism in floral scent
(2013) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280(1772).- Abstract
- Zoophilous flowers often transmit olfactory signals to attract pollinators. In plants with unisexual flowers, such signals are usually similar between the sexes because attraction of the same animal to both male and female flowers is essential for conspecific pollen transfer. Here, we present a remarkable example of sexual dimorphism in floral signal observed in reproductively highly specialized clades of the tribe Phyllantheae (Phyllanthaceae). These plants are pollinated by species-specific, seed-parasitic Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) that actively collect pollen from male flowers and pollinate the female flowers in which they oviposit; by doing so, they ensure seeds for their offspring. We found that Epicephala-pollinated... (More)
- Zoophilous flowers often transmit olfactory signals to attract pollinators. In plants with unisexual flowers, such signals are usually similar between the sexes because attraction of the same animal to both male and female flowers is essential for conspecific pollen transfer. Here, we present a remarkable example of sexual dimorphism in floral signal observed in reproductively highly specialized clades of the tribe Phyllantheae (Phyllanthaceae). These plants are pollinated by species-specific, seed-parasitic Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) that actively collect pollen from male flowers and pollinate the female flowers in which they oviposit; by doing so, they ensure seeds for their offspring. We found that Epicephala-pollinated Phyllanthaceae plants consistently exhibit major qualitative differences in scent between male and female flowers, often involving compounds derived from different biosynthetic pathways. In a choice test, mated female Epicephala moths preferred the scent of male flowers over that of female flowers, suggesting that male floral scent elicits pollen-collecting behaviour. Epicephala pollination evolved multiple times in Phyllantheae, at least thrice accompanied by transition from sexual monomorphism to dimorphism in floral scent. This is the first example in which sexually dimorphic floral scent has evolved to signal an alternative reward provided by each sex, provoking the pollinator's legitimate altruistic behaviour. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4143040
- author
- Okamoto, Tomoko ; Kawakita, Atsushi ; Goto, Ryutaro ; Svensson, Glenn LU and Kato, Makoto
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 280
- issue
- 1772
- article number
- 20132280
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:24153388
- wos:000330325400020
- scopus:84902654616
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2013.2280
- project
- Chemical ecology of obligate pollination mutualisms
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- dea855d6-c8fd-4f80-ba56-47f71a9b1bae (old id 4143040)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:54:49
- date last changed
- 2022-03-06 02:44:08
@article{dea855d6-c8fd-4f80-ba56-47f71a9b1bae,
abstract = {{Zoophilous flowers often transmit olfactory signals to attract pollinators. In plants with unisexual flowers, such signals are usually similar between the sexes because attraction of the same animal to both male and female flowers is essential for conspecific pollen transfer. Here, we present a remarkable example of sexual dimorphism in floral signal observed in reproductively highly specialized clades of the tribe Phyllantheae (Phyllanthaceae). These plants are pollinated by species-specific, seed-parasitic Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) that actively collect pollen from male flowers and pollinate the female flowers in which they oviposit; by doing so, they ensure seeds for their offspring. We found that Epicephala-pollinated Phyllanthaceae plants consistently exhibit major qualitative differences in scent between male and female flowers, often involving compounds derived from different biosynthetic pathways. In a choice test, mated female Epicephala moths preferred the scent of male flowers over that of female flowers, suggesting that male floral scent elicits pollen-collecting behaviour. Epicephala pollination evolved multiple times in Phyllantheae, at least thrice accompanied by transition from sexual monomorphism to dimorphism in floral scent. This is the first example in which sexually dimorphic floral scent has evolved to signal an alternative reward provided by each sex, provoking the pollinator's legitimate altruistic behaviour.}},
author = {{Okamoto, Tomoko and Kawakita, Atsushi and Goto, Ryutaro and Svensson, Glenn and Kato, Makoto}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1772}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Active pollination favours sexual dimorphism in floral scent}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2280}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2013.2280}},
volume = {{280}},
year = {{2013}},
}