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The relative strength of different floral visitors driving floral evolution within a Primula secundiflora population

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Abstract

Floral visitor assemblages within plant populations are usually composed of different visitors, and the relative abundance of these visitors also varies. Therefore, identifying the relative strength of these floral visitors driving floral evolution within the population is an important step in predicting the evolutionary trajectory of floral traits. Using supplemental hand pollination and nectar-robbing exclusion treatments, we experimentally identified the relative strengths of legitimate pollinators (that visit flowers through the corolla tube entrance) and nectar robbers (that visit flowers by biting a hole in the corolla tube or using an existing hole) driving floral evolution within the Primula secundiflora population. We also estimated legitimate pollinator- and nectar robber-mediated selection separately for pin and thrum flowers. Both legitimate pollinators and nectar robbers mediated selection on pollination efficiency traits in P. secundiflora population. Legitimate pollinators mediated selection for wider corolla tubes, whereas nectar robbers mediated selection for longer corolla tubes. In addition, nectar robber-mediated selection on corolla tube length marginally varied between the pin and thrum flowers. Nectar robber mediated selection for longer corolla tube length in the pin flowers not in the thrum flowers. These results indicate that legitimate pollinators and nectar robbers within a population can drive differential evolutionary trajectories of floral traits.

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Acknowledgements

We would especially like to thank Potatso National Park for the logistical support. We would sincerely like to thank the Center Laboratory of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences for help in the data collection. This research was supported by the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Yunnan Provincial Government (No. U1202261).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Xihua University, Chengdu, 610039, China

    Yun Wu & Lu-Wei Tan

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China

    Yun Wu

  3. College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China

    Tao Zhong & Guang-Li Liu

  4. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Laboratory of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, Yunnan, China

    Qing-Jun Li

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  1. Yun Wu
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Correspondence to Qing-Jun Li.

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Wu, Y., Zhong, T., Liu, GL. et al. The relative strength of different floral visitors driving floral evolution within a Primula secundiflora population. Evol Ecol 32, 587–599 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-018-9962-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-018-9962-3

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