Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 12843, Prague, Czechia.
Department of Biology of Organisms and Populations, Faculty of Fundamental and Applied Science, University of Poitiers, 5 rue Albert Turpain, 86000, Poitiers, France.
Sci Rep. 2021 May 6;11(1):9710. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89012-x.
Butterflies and moths are conspicuous flower visitors but their role in plant-pollinator interactions has rarely been quantified, especially in tropical rainforests. Moreover, we have virtually no knowledge of environmental factors affecting the role of lepidopterans in pollination networks. We videorecorded flower-visiting butterflies and hawkmoths on 212 plant species (> 26,000 recorded hrs) along the complete elevational gradient of rainforests on Mount Cameroon in dry and wet seasons. Altogether, we recorded 734 flower visits by 80 butterfly and 27 hawkmoth species, representing only ~ 4% of all flower visits. Although lepidopterans visited flowers of only a third of the plant species, they appeared to be key visitors for several plants. Lepidopterans visited flowers most frequently at mid-elevations and dry season, mirroring their local elevational patterns of diversity. Characteristics of interaction networks showed no apparent elevational or seasonal patterns, probably because of the high specialisation of all networks. Significant non-linear changes of proboscis and forewing lengths were found along elevation. A positive relationship between the lengths of proboscis of hesperiid butterflies and tube of visited flowers was detected. Differences in floral preferences were found between sphingids and butterflies, revealing the importance of nectar production, floral size and shape for sphingids, and floral colour for butterflies. The revealed trait-matching and floral preferences confirmed their potential to drive floral evolution in tropical ecosystems.
蝴蝶和蛾类是显眼的访花者，但它们在植物-传粉者相互作用中的作用很少被量化，尤其是在热带雨林中。此外，我们几乎不知道哪些环境因素会影响鳞翅目昆虫在传粉网络中的作用。我们在喀麦隆山的热带雨林沿海拔梯度的干季和湿季，对 212 种植物（记录了>26000 小时）上的访花蝴蝶和天蛾进行了录像记录。总共记录了 80 种蝴蝶和 27 种天蛾的 734 次访花，仅占所有访花的约 4%。尽管鳞翅目昆虫仅访问了三分之一的植物物种的花朵，但它们似乎是几种植物的关键访客。鳞翅目昆虫最常在中海拔和干季访问花朵，反映了它们在当地的多样性海拔模式。交互网络的特征没有明显的海拔或季节性模式，这可能是由于所有网络的高度专业化。在海拔高度上，发现触须和前翅长度存在显著的非线性变化。还检测到了长尾小蜂蝴蝶的喙和访问花朵的管之间存在正相关关系。发现了鳞翅目和蝴蝶之间的花卉偏好差异，揭示了花蜜产量、花卉大小和形状对鳞翅目昆虫以及花卉颜色对蝴蝶的重要性。所揭示的特征匹配和花卉偏好证实了它们在热带生态系统中驱动花卉进化的潜力。
