Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000, Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 10;9(1):1367. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03792-x.
The puzzling diversity of flowers is primarily shaped by selection and evolutionary change caused by the plant's interaction with animals. The contribution of individual animal species to net selection, however, may vary depending on the network of interacting organisms. Here we document that in the buckler mustard, Biscutella laevigata, the crab spider Thomisus onustus reduces bee visits to flowers but also benefits plants by feeding on florivores. Uninfested plants experience a trade-off between pollinator and spider attraction as both bees and crab spiders are attracted by the floral volatile β-ocimene. This trade-off is reduced by the induced emission of β-ocimene after florivore infestation, which is stronger in plant populations where crab spiders are present than where they are absent, suggesting that plants are locally adapted to the presence of crab spiders. Our study demonstrates the context-dependence of selection and shows how crab spiders impact on floral evolution.
花的奇异多样性主要是由植物与动物相互作用引起的选择和进化变化所塑造的。然而，个别动物物种对净选择的贡献可能因相互作用的生物体网络而异。在这里，我们记录了在盾叶鬼针草中，蟹蛛 Thomisus onustus 减少了蜜蜂对花朵的访问，但通过捕食食花昆虫也使植物受益。未受侵害的植物在传粉者和蜘蛛吸引力之间存在权衡，因为蜜蜂和蟹蛛都被花的挥发性化合物 β-罗勒烯所吸引。这种权衡在食花昆虫侵害后被 β-罗勒烯的诱导释放所减少，在有蟹蛛存在的植物种群中比在没有蟹蛛存在的种群中更强，这表明植物在局部上适应了蟹蛛的存在。我们的研究表明了选择的情境依赖性，并展示了蟹蛛如何影响花的进化。
