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Related Experiment Videos

Flower color microevolution in wild radish: evolutionary response to pollinator-mediated selection.

Rebecca E Irwin1, Sharon Y Strauss

  • 1Center for Population Biology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA. rebecca.e.irwin@dartmouth.edu

The American Naturalist
|February 25, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Pollinator interactions can drive microevolution in flower color frequency, but other selective forces during development can counteract these changes in Raphanus sativus.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary ecology
  • Plant-pollinator interactions
  • Microevolutionary dynamics

Background:

  • Species interactions are key drivers of evolutionary change.
  • Flower color variation in Raphanus sativus is controlled by two loci, resulting in four distinct morphs: yellow, white, pink, and bronze.
  • Understanding the selective pressures on these morphs is crucial for evolutionary studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of plant-pollinator interactions on the frequency of flower color morphs in Raphanus sativus.
  • To differentiate the effects of pollinator selection from postpollination and developmental selection.
  • To assess the microevolutionary consequences of pollinator discrimination on floral traits.

Main Methods:

  • Comparison of flower color morph frequencies under open pollination (with pollinators) versus null pollination (without pollinators).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Controlled pollinations with equal ratios of all four color morphs to isolate postpollination and developmental effects.
  • Analysis of progeny color frequencies against Hardy-Weinberg and linkage equilibria predictions.

    • Main Results:

    • Open pollination resulted in a significant overrepresentation of yellow progeny compared to null pollination and theoretical expectations.
    • This overrepresentation was attributed to pollinator selection favoring or disfavoring certain colors.
    • However, field surveys the following year showed no change in overall flower color frequency, indicating counteracting selective forces.

    Conclusions:

    • Pollinator discrimination can impose strong, short-term selection on flower color morphs.
    • Non-pollinator selective forces during the seed-to-adult transition can offset pollinator-driven microevolution.
    • Flower color evolution is a complex interplay of multiple selective pressures acting at different life stages.