Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, Zürich 8008, Switzerland.
Nat Commun. 2017 Mar 14;8:14691. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14691.
Pollinator-driven diversification is thought to be a major source of floral variation in plants. Our knowledge of this process is, however, limited to indirect assessments of evolutionary changes. Here, we employ experimental evolution with fast cycling Brassica rapa plants to demonstrate adaptive evolution driven by different pollinators. Our study shows pollinator-driven divergent selection as well as divergent evolution in plant traits. Plants pollinated by bumblebees evolved taller size and more fragrant flowers with increased ultraviolet reflection. Bumblebees preferred bumblebee-pollinated plants over hoverfly-pollinated plants at the end of the experiment, showing that plants had adapted to the bumblebees' preferences. Plants with hoverfly pollination became shorter, had reduced emission of some floral volatiles, but increased fitness through augmented autonomous self-pollination. Our study demonstrates that changes in pollinator communities can have rapid consequences on the evolution of plant traits and mating system.
传粉者驱动的多样化被认为是植物花部变异的主要来源。然而，我们对这一过程的认识仅限于对进化变化的间接评估。在这里，我们利用快速循环的油菜植物进行实验进化，以证明不同传粉者驱动的适应性进化。我们的研究表明，传粉者驱动的趋异选择以及植物性状的趋异进化。由熊蜂授粉的植物进化出更高的大小和更芳香的花朵，具有增加的紫外线反射。在实验结束时，熊蜂更喜欢由熊蜂授粉的植物而不是由食蚜蝇授粉的植物，表明植物已经适应了熊蜂的偏好。具有食蚜蝇授粉的植物变得更矮，一些花香挥发物的排放减少，但通过增强自主自花授粉提高了适应性。我们的研究表明，传粉者群落的变化可以对植物性状和交配系统的进化产生快速的影响。
