Gómez José M, Navarro Luis, González-Megías Adela, Armas Cristina, Perfectti Francisco, Caravantes Ángel, Sánchez Raquel
Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA- CSIC), Carretera de Sacramento s/n, E-04120, Almería, Spain.
Research Unit Modeling Nature, Universidad de Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain.
AoB Plants. 2025 Jan 10;17(3):plae065. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plae065. eCollection 2025 Jun.
The pollination specialisation/generalisation continuum is a basic concept in pollination biology, usually defined as the number of species or functional groups of pollinators visiting a plant species. The level of specialisation can be affected by the relative abundance of pollinators on flowers, the among-pollinator variation in per-visit efficiency and the intra-population variation in floral traits. Here, we explore how these components influence the degree of generalisation of a Mediterranean herb, (Brassicaceae). shows a remarkable intra-individual floral polyphenism, with large cross-shaped lilac flowers during spring and small rounded white flowers during summer. We quantified the pollinator assemblages, grouped into functional groups, of six plant populations from SE Spain during spring and summer, experimentally tested their preference for spring and summer floral morphs, their per-visit efficiency, and their effectiveness during each flowering period, estimated as their contribution to plant's fitness. The level of generalisation differed between floral morphs: spring flowers are visited mainly by large long-tongued bees, while summer flowers are visited by a diverse set including small short-tongued bees, large long-tongued bees, large butterflies and beeflies. The functional groups of pollinators differed in their preferences for floral morphs, with large long-tongued bees, small short-tongued bees and beeflies preferring spring floral morphs, whereas flies and butterflies preferred summer floral morphs. Pollinator per-visit efficiency also varied among functional groups. Bees and butterflies produced many seeds per visit, while beetles, hoverflies and flies produced few or no seeds per visit. By combining floral visits with per-visit efficiency (effectiveness), the spring pollinator assemblage became significantly more specialised and the summer pollinator assemblage significantly more generalised. Our study suggests that, although traditionally neglected in pollination studies, examining pollinator effectiveness is crucial to accurately characterise generalisation-specialisation gradients, rigorously categorising pollination niches and correctly describing the architecture of plant-pollinator interactions.
传粉专业化/泛化连续统是传粉生物学中的一个基本概念,通常定义为访问某一植物物种的传粉者物种数量或功能类群数量。专业化水平可能受花朵上传粉者的相对丰度、每次访问效率在传粉者之间的差异以及花部性状在种群内的差异影响。在此,我们探究这些因素如何影响一种地中海草本植物(十字花科)的泛化程度。该植物表现出显著的个体内花部多态性,春季有大型十字形淡紫色花朵,夏季有小型圆形白色花朵。我们对西班牙东南部六个植物种群在春季和夏季的传粉者组合进行了量化,并将其分为功能类群,通过实验测试了它们对春季和夏季花部形态的偏好、每次访问效率以及在每个花期的有效性(以它们对植物适合度的贡献来估计)。花部形态之间的泛化水平有所不同:春季花朵主要由大型长舌蜂访问,而夏季花朵则由多种传粉者访问,包括小型短舌蜂、大型长舌蜂、大型蝴蝶和食蚜蝇。传粉者功能类群对花部形态的偏好不同,大型长舌蜂、小型短舌蜂和食蚜蝇偏好春季花部形态,而蝇类和蝴蝶偏好夏季花部形态。每次访问效率在功能类群之间也存在差异。蜜蜂和蝴蝶每次访问能产生许多种子,而甲虫、食蚜蝇和蝇类每次访问产生的种子很少或不产生种子。通过将访花情况与每次访问效率(有效性)相结合,春季传粉者组合变得明显更专业化,而夏季传粉者组合明显更泛化。我们的研究表明,尽管在传粉研究中传统上被忽视,但检查传粉者有效性对于准确刻画泛化 - 专业化梯度、严格划分传粉生态位以及正确描述植物 - 传粉者相互作用的结构至关重要。
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