Phenotypic selection on pollination and defence traits in the pollination-generalized plant Viscaria vulgaris
(2022) BION03 20212Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- Floral traits are shown to covary predictably with local pollinators by a growing number of studies, and linking this variation to fitness can help to gain an even more predictive view. Pollinators have long been recognized to drive trait evolution in plants and plant communities. Most studies searching for patterns in how pollination affects plants do not consider that pollinator selection might be happening on multiple levels and are conducted on specialized systems with one or few distinct functional groups of pollinators, which raises the concern that the detected predictability in patterns of selection are overestimated. Meanwhile, floral evolution in generalized systems with diverse pollinator assemblages is poorly understood. In... (More)
- Floral traits are shown to covary predictably with local pollinators by a growing number of studies, and linking this variation to fitness can help to gain an even more predictive view. Pollinators have long been recognized to drive trait evolution in plants and plant communities. Most studies searching for patterns in how pollination affects plants do not consider that pollinator selection might be happening on multiple levels and are conducted on specialized systems with one or few distinct functional groups of pollinators, which raises the concern that the detected predictability in patterns of selection are overestimated. Meanwhile, floral evolution in generalized systems with diverse pollinator assemblages is poorly understood. In this study, we set out to measure trait variation and its relatedness to fitness and to quantify pollinator visits on a large population of Viscaria vulgaris. With estimating selection gradients, we found selection for increased plant size and longer glandular regions, and greater nectary-stigma distance, and showed that traits related to pollination can be under selection in a generalized pollination system. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Disentangling agents of selection on the sticky catchfly
In light of the recent pollinator decline we are experiencing it has become more important than ever to understand the connection between pollinators and plant communities – which is a unique challenge due to the complicated nature of this relationship. We set out to explore a possible candidate that can shed light to many of our unanswered questions: the sticky catchfly.
The relationship between plants and pollinators has been fascinating researchers for centuries. By now it’s clear how important pollinators are in driving plant evolution – yet our understanding of the topic is nowhere near complete. Aside from identifying the contribution of pollinators to selection, it is... (More) - Disentangling agents of selection on the sticky catchfly
In light of the recent pollinator decline we are experiencing it has become more important than ever to understand the connection between pollinators and plant communities – which is a unique challenge due to the complicated nature of this relationship. We set out to explore a possible candidate that can shed light to many of our unanswered questions: the sticky catchfly.
The relationship between plants and pollinators has been fascinating researchers for centuries. By now it’s clear how important pollinators are in driving plant evolution – yet our understanding of the topic is nowhere near complete. Aside from identifying the contribution of pollinators to selection, it is another challenge to separate this effect from other factors of the environment. Additionally, we seem to know way more about better defined, specialized systems where flowers interact with only a few species or groups of insects, despite the fact that many plants have multiple dozen, at times even more than a hundred potential pollinators.
The sticky catchfly (Viscaria vulgaris), that got its name from the sticky glandular region found on its stem, is a well-distinguishable, widespread wildflower growing along roads, slopes, and dry meadows. They bloom during early summer, and have a wide array of daily visitors including bumblebees, honeybees, butterflies and solitary bees. We recorded pollinator visits and measured several flower- and plant-related traits in a large population of sticky catchfly, then analysed these traits in relation to the number of fruits produced by the plants.
What did we find?
We came up with three different scenarios regarding how pollinators might choose the plant they forage on, then constructed and compared three models that reflects these ideas. We found selection for increased plant size, longer glandular regions and greater nectary-stigma distance, which is consistent with previous literature. The most abundant visitors have been bumblebees and honeybees, and several other pollinators including solitary bees, hover flies and butterflies were observed. Fascinatingly, the most abundant pollinators turned out to be nectar robbers, leaving us wondering about whether or not robbers also contribute to pollination by carrying pollen on other parts of their body.
Observing this species left us with several questions – we wonder about differences between populations, years and genetic background. Comparing different models about pollinator choices also revealed slightly different patterns in selection that are worth investigating. The sticky catchfly is a species worth of future research, and we are eager to collect more data of them in the future.
Master’s Degree Project in Biology – 60 credits – 2022
Department of Biology, Lund University
Advisor: Oystein Opedal
Evolutionary Ecology of Plant-Insect Interactions, Department of Biology (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9103215
- author
- Temesvári, Vanda
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BION03 20212
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9103215
- date added to LUP
- 2022-11-15 15:37:10
- date last changed
- 2022-11-15 15:37:10
@misc{9103215,
abstract = {{Floral traits are shown to covary predictably with local pollinators by a growing number of studies, and linking this variation to fitness can help to gain an even more predictive view. Pollinators have long been recognized to drive trait evolution in plants and plant communities. Most studies searching for patterns in how pollination affects plants do not consider that pollinator selection might be happening on multiple levels and are conducted on specialized systems with one or few distinct functional groups of pollinators, which raises the concern that the detected predictability in patterns of selection are overestimated. Meanwhile, floral evolution in generalized systems with diverse pollinator assemblages is poorly understood. In this study, we set out to measure trait variation and its relatedness to fitness and to quantify pollinator visits on a large population of Viscaria vulgaris. With estimating selection gradients, we found selection for increased plant size and longer glandular regions, and greater nectary-stigma distance, and showed that traits related to pollination can be under selection in a generalized pollination system.}},
author = {{Temesvári, Vanda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Phenotypic selection on pollination and defence traits in the pollination-generalized plant Viscaria vulgaris}},
year = {{2022}},
}