Flowers shape themselves to guide their pollinators to the pollenApril 04, 2007Wide flowers for bats, narrow flowers for hummingbirds in the cloudforests of Ecuador Why do flowers specialize on different pollinators? For example, both bats and hummingbirds pollinate plants in tropical forests; why adapt to just one instead of using both? Biologists often assume that tradeoffs contribute to such specialization (the jack of all pollinators is master of none), yet surprisingly little evidence exists in support of this idea. Nathan Muchhala from the University of Miami explored pollinator specialization through experiments with bats, hummingbirds, and artificial flowers in cloudforests of Ecuador. In a study published in the April issue of the American Naturalist, he reports that the fit between flower and pollinator is key: bats pollinate wide flowers better, while hummingbirds transfer more pollen between narrow flowers. Videotaping demonstrated that a poor fit fails to correctly guide the pollinator while feeding. This tradeoff in adapting to bats vs. hummingbirds is strong enough to favor specialization on one or the other. Nathan says, "While all leaves tend to look similar, flowers come in a spectacular variety of shapes and colors. This study suggests tradeoffs in adapting to different pollinators may have played an important role in the evolution of such diversity." University of Chicago Press Journals | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Related Pollinator Current Events and Pollinator News Articles Saving our bees Most of the world's plant species rely on animals to transfer their pollen to other plants. The undisputed queen of these animal pollinators is the bee, made up of about 30,000 species worldwide, whose daily flights aid in the reproduction of more than half of the world's flowering plants. Climate change could severely impact California's unique native plants The native plants unique to California are so vulnerable to global climate change that two-thirds of these "endemics" could suffer more than an 80 percent reduction in geographic range by the end of the century. Newly Compiled Online Bee Checklist Allows Biologists To Link Important Information About All Bee Species n time for National Pollinator Week, June 22 through June 28, biologists have completed an online effort to compile a world checklist of bees. They have identified nearly 19,500 bee species worldwide, about 2,000 more than previously estimated. How to share a bat New research shows how different species of plants evolve unique floral adaptations in order to transfer pollen on different regions of bats' bodies, thus allowing multiple plant species to share bats as pollinators. Size and positioning of floral anthers facilitates pollen collection by bees Unlike moths and butterflies that are often brilliantly colored to warn potential predators that they carry toxins, flowers and the fruits they produce have brilliant colors and unusual shapes because they want to attract the attention of pollinators and frugivores who will disperse their pollen and seed, thus guaranteeing the next generation. Columbine flowers develop long nectar spurs in response to pollinators In flowers called columbines, evolution of the length of nectar spurs--the long tubes leading to plants' nectar--happens in a way that allows flowers to match the tongue lengths of the pollinators that drink their nectar, biologists have found. Bumble bees can estimate time intervals In a finding that broadens our understanding of time perception in the animal kingdom, researchers have discovered that an insect pollinator, the bumble bee, can estimate the duration of time intervals. Increased competition for pollen may lead to plant extinctions The decline of birds, bees and other pollinators in the world's most diverse ecosystems may be putting plants in those areas at risk, according to new research. Media Invitation: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting, Lancaster University, 7-9 September 2004 You are invited to attend the UK's premier ecological event, the British Ecological Society's Annual Meeting, being held at Lancaster University on 7-9 September 2004. Thousands of ecologists from all four corners of the globe will be attending the meeting, which features hundreds of scientific papers and posters. Highlights include: * The BES Lecture, given by Professor Sir David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government, on Wednesday 8 September. * A debate on the future of scientific publishing in ecology. Taking part in the debate on Wednesday 8 September will be Bob Campbell of Blackwell Publishing, Catriona MacCallum from the Public Library of Science, Ken Norris, editor of the Mass flowering crops enhance pollinator densities at a landscape scale The EU response to recent declines in pollinators and consequent loss of pollination services has been the inclusion of pollinator-friendly management in agri-environment schemes. These comprise the promotion of semi-natural habitats, such as set-aside and field margin strips. Yet, mass flowering crops, such as oilseed rape, are assumed to be of little value to pollinators. However, in an article soon to appear in Ecology Letters, C. Westphal, I. Steffan-Dewenter and T. Tscharntke show that the densities of bumblebees, a key group of pollinators in European agroecosystems, did not appear to be related to the amount of semi-natural habitats, as previously thought. Instead, bumblebees profite More Pollinator Current Events and Pollinator News Articles |
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