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Long-term morphological stasis maintained by a plant-pollinator mutualism.

Charles C Davis¹, Hanno Schaefer, Zhenxiang Xi

¹Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|April 8, 2014

Summary

Floral traits in Malpighiaceae are actively maintained by stabilizing selection from oil-bee pollinators, not developmental constraints. Loss of these pollinators triggers evolutionary shifts, suggesting a link between pollination mutualism and species diversification.

Keywords:

Centridini comparative methods diversification rate flower morphology phylogeny

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Plant sciences
Ecology

Background:

Major evolutionary lineages often exhibit conserved body plans, suggesting potential constraints on morphological evolution.
Alternatively, morphological stasis could be maintained by natural selection, particularly in systems with specialized interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of stabilizing selection versus developmental constraint in maintaining the conserved floral morphology of the Malpighiaceae family.
To explore the relationship between floral trait evolution, pollinator specialization, and species diversification in Malpighiaceae.

Main Methods:

Comparative analysis of floral morphology across Malpighiaceae clades with and without their primary oil-bee pollinators.
Phylogenetic reconstruction to infer evolutionary history and identify shifts in floral traits.

Main Results:

Malpighiaceae floral morphology has been conserved for millions of years due to stabilizing selection by specialist oil-bee pollinators.
Nine clades lacking these pollinators exhibit significant evolutionary changes in oil-bee-associated floral traits.
Species diversification in Malpighiaceae accelerated concurrently with the evolution of this plant-pollinator mutualism.

Conclusions:

Developmental constraint does not primarily explain the morphological stasis in Malpighiaceae.
Specialized pollination mutualisms can actively maintain floral trait stability while simultaneously promoting species diversification.