Ait Akka Aziz, Lafraxo Soufyane, Jawhari Fatima Zahra, Sentil Ahlam, Bourhia Mohammed, Younous Youssouf Ali, Gaafar Abdel-Rhman Z, Bari Amina, Guemmouh Raja
Laboratory of Biotechnology, Conservation and Valorization of Natural Resources, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, University of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, P.O. Box 1796 (Atlas), Fez, 30000, Morocco.
Laboratory of Biotechnology, Environment, Agri-Food and Health, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, University of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, P.O. Box 1796 (Atlas), Fez, 30000, Morocco.
BMC Ecol Evol. 2025 Sep 9;25(1):93. doi: 10.1186/s12862-025-02403-w.
The relationships between floral traits and pollinators have been extensively studied over the last few decades. The concept of pollination syndrome suggests that plants pollinated by the same group of pollinators tend to develop similar combinations of floral traits. However, several studies have demonstrated the low predictability of these trait combinations and found high levels of pollination generalization within plant communities. In this context, on the basis of direct field observations, our study aimed to explore the relationships between pollinator functional groups and floral traits in two Mediterranean mountainous plant communities in the Middle Atlas of Morocco.
Our research included 83 plant species belonging to two plant communities and 10 insect groups. Pollination generalization (PG) levels varied significantly between the two plant communities. Among the thirteen floral traits included in the present study, PG levels were significantly associated with only flower clustering and reward type. Clustered flowers and those producing both nectar and pollen were more generalized than solitary flowers and those producing only pollen. Bumblebees frequently visit closed zygomorphic flowers with hidden anthers in a vertical orientation, whereas flies, hoverflies, and ants prefer open actinomorphic flowers with exposed anthers in a horizontal orientation. Butterflies and beeflies were strongly associated with tubular flowers with long corollas and pink colouration. In addition to being the most abundant group, bees and beetles exhibited generalist behavior, with associations with multiple floral traits in both communities.
Our results, while offering partial support for the pollination syndrome hypothesis, revealed predominantly generalized patterns of pollination among the studied plant species. Notably, these patterns were not significantly explained by all the floral traits we analysed. Furthermore, we suggest that within insect groups, especially bees and beetles, species-level variation in floral trait preferences may exist, contributing to the observed generalizability. These findings highlight the need for further research to unravel the intricacies of plant–pollinator interactions and to better understand the mechanisms driving network structure and specialization.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-025-02403-w.
在过去几十年里，花部性状与传粉者之间的关系得到了广泛研究。传粉综合征的概念表明，由同一组传粉者授粉的植物往往会形成相似的花部性状组合。然而，多项研究表明这些性状组合的可预测性较低，并发现植物群落中存在高度的传粉泛化现象。在此背景下，基于直接的野外观察，我们的研究旨在探索摩洛哥中阿特拉斯山脉两个地中海山区植物群落中传粉者功能群与花部性状之间的关系。
我们的研究涵盖了两个植物群落的83种植物和10个昆虫类群。两个植物群落之间的传粉泛化（PG）水平差异显著。在本研究纳入的13种花部性状中，PG水平仅与花的簇生状态和报酬类型显著相关。簇生花以及既产生花蜜又产生花粉的花比单生花和仅产生花粉的花更具泛化性。熊蜂经常访问闭合的两侧对称花，其花药隐藏且呈垂直方向，而苍蝇、食蚜蝇和蚂蚁更喜欢开放的辐射对称花，其花药外露且呈水平方向。蝴蝶和长吻虻与具有长花冠和粉色的管状花密切相关。除了是最丰富的类群外，蜜蜂和甲虫表现出泛化行为，在两个群落中都与多种花部性状相关。
我们的结果虽然为传粉综合征假说提供了部分支持，但揭示了所研究植物物种中主要的传粉泛化模式。值得注意的是，我们分析的所有花部性状并不能显著解释这些模式。此外，我们认为在昆虫类群中，尤其是蜜蜂和甲虫，可能存在花部性状偏好的物种水平差异，这导致了观察到的泛化现象。这些发现凸显了进一步开展研究以阐明植物 - 传粉者相互作用的复杂性并更好地理解驱动网络结构和特化的机制的必要性。
在线版本包含可在10.1186/s12862-025-02403-w获取的补充材料。
