Switzer Callin M, Combes Stacey A, Hopkins Robin
Am Nat. 2018 Jun;191(6):767-776. doi: 10.1086/697220. Epub 2018 Mar 22.
The astonishing amount of floral diversity has inspired countless assumptions about the function of diverse forms and their adaptive significance, yet many of these hypothesized functions are untested. We investigated an often-repeated adaptive hypothesis about how an extreme floral form functions. In this study, we conducted four investigations to understand the adaptive function of explosive pollination in Kalmia latifolia, the mountain laurel. We first performed a kinematic analysis of anther movement. Second, we constructed a heat map of pollen trajectories in three-dimensional space. Third, we conducted field observations of pollinators and their behaviors while visiting K. latifolia. Finally, we conducted a pollination experiment to investigate the importance of pollinators for fertilization success. Our results suggest that insect visitation dramatically improves fertilization success and that bees are the primary pollinators that trigger explosive pollen release.
惊人的花卉多样性激发了人们对各种形态的功能及其适应性意义的无数假设，但其中许多假设的功能尚未得到验证。我们研究了一个关于极端花卉形态如何发挥作用的经常被提及的适应性假设。在这项研究中，我们进行了四项调查，以了解山月桂（Kalmia latifolia）爆炸式授粉的适应性功能。我们首先对花药运动进行了运动学分析。其次，我们构建了花粉在三维空间中的轨迹热图。第三，我们对访问山月桂的传粉者及其行为进行了实地观察。最后，我们进行了一项授粉实验，以研究传粉者对受精成功的重要性。我们的结果表明，昆虫的访问显著提高了受精成功率，并且蜜蜂是触发爆炸性花粉释放的主要传粉者。
