Am. J. Bot. Plant Physiology
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(American Journal of Botany. 2006;93:64-72.)
© 2006 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Ecology

Correlations among traits associated with herbivore resistance and pollination: implications for pollination and nectar robbing in a distylous plant1

Rebecca E. Irwin2,3,6 and Lynn S. Adler4,5

2Department of Biology, Gilman Lab, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 USA; 3Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 USA; 4Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences and Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003 USA; 5Department of Biology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 USA

ABSTRACT

Plants interact simultaneously with a diversity of visitors, including herbivores and pollinators. Correlations among traits associated with herbivory and pollination may constrain the degree to which plants can evolve in response to any one interactor. Using the distylous plant, Gelsemium sempervirens, we tested the hypothesis that traits typically associated with pollination (distyly) and herbivore resistance (secondary compounds) were phenotypically correlated and examined how these traits influenced plant interactions with floral visitors. The flowers of G. sempervirens are visited by pollinators and a nectar robber, and the leaves and flowers express gelsemine, an alkaloid that is deterrent and sometimes toxic to visitors. Using an observational approach across five populations, we found the thrum floral morph (short-styled) expressed more leaf gelsemine than the pin morph (long-styled). Leaf gelsemine concentrations were positively correlated with flower gelsemine; however, there were no correlations between gelsemine and other floral morphological traits. Trait expression influenced pollination more so than robbing. Thrums received two times less pollen than pins. Moreover, across both morphs, pollen receipt was lower in plants that expressed higher levels of leaf gelsemine in two sites. These results imply that traits associated with pollination and herbivore resistance may not be independent.

Key Words: alkaloids • distyly • flower size • Gelsemium sempervirens • herbivory • nectar production • nectar robbing • pollination




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J. B. Pascarella
Mechanisms of prezygotic reproductive isolation between two sympatric species, Gelsemium rankinii and G. sempervirens (Gelsemiaceae), in the southeastern United States
Am. J. Botany, March 1, 2007; 94(3): 468 - 476.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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