Geographic Variation in Floral Color and Reflectance Correlates With Temperature and Colonization History

Petal color variation within species is common and may be molded by abiotic or biotic selection pressures, or neutral population structure. For example, darker flowers may be favored in cooler environments because they absorb more solar radiation, elevating the temperature of reproductive structures. Additionally, flower color may evolve to attract the dominant or most efficient pollinator type in a given population. Here, we evaluate geographic variation in petal coloration across the range of Campanula americana in Eastern North America and test whether color covaries with abiotic factors, the pollination community, and genetic structure established through post-glacial expansion. Consistent with other studies, flowers from cooler, higher latitude populations were less reflective across the UV-NIR spectrum than those from warmer populations. Local temperature explained variation in petal reflectance better than the pollinator community or colonization history. Petal color perceived by trichromatic bee pollinators displayed a strong longitudinal pattern but was unassociated with climatic factors and the pollinator community. Instead, pollinator-perceived color was tightly correlated with the geographic distance from C. americana's glacial refugium. In total, abiotic conditions appear to shape large-scale geographic variation in the intensity of petal reflectance while genetic structure is the strongest driver of pollinator-perceived petal coloration. This study highlights the importance of abiotic factors and historical processes associated with range expansion as major evolutionary forces shaping diversity of flower coloration on large geographic scales.