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(American Journal of Botany. 2009;96:1887-1895.)
doi: 10.3732/ajb.0800392
© 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
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Reproductive Biology

Specialization clines in the pollination systems of agaves (Agavaceae) and columnar cacti (Cactaceae): A phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis1

Miguel A. Munguía-Rosas2,5, Vinicio J. Sosa2, Mario M. Ojeda3 and J. Arturo De-Nova4

2 Departamento de Ecología Aplicada, Instituto de Ecología, A. C. Apartado Postal 63, Xalapa, Veracruz, C.P. 91000 Mexico 3 Facultad de Estadística e Informática, Universidad Veracruzana, Apartado Postal 475, Xalapa, Veracruz C.P. 91000 Mexico 4 Departamento de Botánica, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 3er Circuito de Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City 04510 Mexico

ABSTRACT

The biogeography of plant–animal interactions is a novel topic on which many disciplines converge (e.g., reproductive biology, biogeography, and evolutionary biology). Narrative reviews have indicated that tropical columnar cacti and agaves have highly specialized pollination systems, while extratropical species have generalized systems. However, this dichotomy has never been quantitatively tested. We tested this hypothesis using traditional and phylogenetically informed meta-analysis. Three effect sizes were estimated from the literature: diurnal, nocturnal, and hand cross-pollination (an indicator of pollen limitation). Columnar cactus pollination systems ranged from purely bat-pollinated in the tropics to generalized pollination, with diurnal visitors as effective as nocturnal visitors in extratropical regions; even when phylogenetic relatedness among species is taken into account. Metaregressions identified a latitudinal increase in pollen limitation in columnar cacti, but this increase was not significant after correcting for phylogeny. The currently available data for agaves do not support any latitudinal trend. Nectar production of columnar cacti varied with latitude. Although this variation is positively correlated with pollination by diurnal visitors, it is influenced by phylogeny. The degree of specificity in the pollination systems of columnar cacti is heavily influenced by ecological factors and has a predictable geographic pattern.

Key Words: Agavaceae • agave • Cactaceae • columnar cactus • comparative method • generalization • meta-analysis • phylogenetic meta-analysis • pollen limitation • pollination system • specialization

Received for publication 23 November 2008. Accepted for publication 13 May 2009.

FOOTNOTES

1 The authors are grateful to the students who allowed us to use raw data from their theses and to the authors who sent us papers not available in Mexico. They also thank J. F. Ornelas and F. Molina-Freaner for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Two anonymous reviewers and A. McPherson helped improve this manuscript. S. Arias and A. García-Mendoza kindly revised and improved our phylogenetic framework of columnar cacti and agaves, respectively. This research was partially funded by a CONACyT scholarship (Reg. 167292) and a Bat Conservation International (BCI) grant awarded to MAM-R, and by the Department of Applied Ecology, INECOL (funds to VJS). B. Delfosse corrected the English.

5 Author for correspondence (e-mail: allusion82{at}hotmail.com


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