Programa Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Circuito Exterior s/n Anexo al Jardín Botánico, 04510, Ciudad de México.
Laboratorio de Evolución Molecular y Experimental, Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
Am J Bot. 2023 Oct;110(10):e16222. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.16222. Epub 2023 Oct 10.
The interaction between ecological and evolutionary processes has been recognized as an important factor shaping the evolutionary history of species. Some authors have proposed different ecological and evolutionary hypotheses concerning the relationships between plants and their pollinators; a special case is the interaction and suspected coevolution among Agave spp. and their main pollinators, the Leptonycteris bats. Agave spp. have, in general, a pollination syndrome compatible with chiropterophily including floral shape and size, nocturnal nectar production, and nectar quality and sugar concentration. Our goal was to analyze the interaction Agave-Leptonycteris and its dynamics during three different climate scenarios.
We modeled the Agave-Leptonycteris interaction in its spatial and temporal components during the Pleistocene using Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) and three climate scenarios: Current, Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and Last InterGlacial (LIG). Furthermore, we analyzed the geographic correlation between 96 Agave spp. and two of the Mexican Tequila bats, genus Leptonycteris.
We found that Leptonycteris spp. interact with different Agave spp. over their migratory routes. We propose an interaction refuge in Metztitlán and Tehuacán-Cuicatlán areas, where Agave- Leptonycteris interaction has probably remained active. During the nonmigratory season, both bat species consume nectar of almost the same Agave spp., suggesting the possibility of a diffuse coevolution among Agave and Leptonycteris bats.
We propose that in the areas related to migratory bat movements, each bat species interacts with different Agave spp., whereas in the areas occupied by nonmigrant individuals, both bat species consume nectar of almost the same Agave taxa.
生态和进化过程的相互作用已被认为是塑造物种进化历史的重要因素。一些作者提出了关于植物与其传粉者之间关系的不同生态和进化假说；一个特殊情况是龙舌兰属植物与其主要传粉者——Leptonycteris 蝙蝠之间的相互作用和疑似共同进化。龙舌兰属植物通常具有与蝙蝠传粉相适应的传粉综合征，包括花的形状和大小、夜间花蜜产生、花蜜质量和糖浓度。我们的目标是分析龙舌兰属- Leptonycteris 的相互作用及其在三个不同气候情景下的动态。
我们使用生态位模型（ENMs）在更新世期间分析了龙舌兰属- Leptonycteris 相互作用的时空组成部分，并考虑了三个气候情景：当前、末次冰期最大值（LGM）和末次间冰期（LIG）。此外，我们分析了 96 种龙舌兰属植物和两种墨西哥龙舌兰属蝙蝠之间的地理相关性。
我们发现 Leptonycteris 种在其迁徙路线上与不同的龙舌兰属植物相互作用。我们提出了在梅斯基特兰和特瓦坎-库亚特兰地区的一个相互作用避难所，那里的龙舌兰属- Leptonycteris 相互作用可能一直活跃。在非迁徙季节，两种蝙蝠物种都消耗几乎相同的龙舌兰属植物的花蜜，这表明龙舌兰属和 Leptonycteris 蝙蝠之间可能存在扩散的共同进化。
我们提出，在与迁徙蝙蝠活动相关的地区，每种蝙蝠物种都与不同的龙舌兰属植物相互作用，而在由非迁徙个体占据的地区，两种蝙蝠物种都消耗几乎相同的龙舌兰属植物的花蜜。
