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Colour evolution within orchids depends on whether the pollinator is a bee or a fly.
M Shrestha1, M Burd2, J E Garcia1
1School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Plant Biology (Stuttgart, Germany)
|January 26, 2019
Summary
Orchid flower colors differ significantly between bee-pollinated and fly-pollinated species. Fly-pollinated orchids display unique spectral features, reflecting distinct visual adaptations to their specific insect pollinators.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
Background:
- Orchids are widely studied angiosperms for understanding biotic pollination.
- Pollinator visual systems significantly influence floral evolution.
- Insect pollinators, such as hymenopterans (bees) and dipterans (flies), have distinct visual capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between orchid flower color and pollinator visual systems.
- To characterize the chromatic signals of bee-pollinated versus fly-pollinated orchid species.
- To understand how pollinator-mediated selection shapes orchid visual signals.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of floral reflectance spectra in relation to pollinator vision.
- Modeling of dipteran and hymenopteran color vision.
- Characterization of chromatic signals in orchid species from hymenopteran- and dipteran-pollinated communities.
Main Results:
- Fly-pollinated flowers exhibit rapid reflectance changes at long wavelengths and lack them at short wavelengths.
- Fly-pollinated flowers show more restricted color loci in visual models compared to bee-pollinated flowers.
- Distinct spectral features differentiate fly-pollinated from bee-pollinated orchid signals.
Conclusions:
- Orchid pollination syndromes are linked to specific visual signals tailored to pollinators.
- Distinctive visual systems of flies drive unique spectral adaptations in fly-pollinated orchids.
- Pollinator-mediated selection results in divergent chromatic signals between fly- and bee-pollinated orchids.
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