Geographical structure of the interation between oil-collecting bees and Krameria Loefl. (Krameriaceae): functional significance and phenotypic integration of floral traits

Author(s)

Liedson Tavares de Sousa Carneiro

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB)
• Defense date: 2017-06-05

Examining board members

Isabel Alves dos Santos; Suzana de Fátima Alcantara; Felipe Wanderley Amorim; Rodrigo Cogni

• Advisor: Isabel Alves dos Santos

Abstract

In this study, I investigate some aspects of the evolutionary ecology of a plant-pollinator interaction, by evaluating the floral phenotype under geographically divergent selective forces. For this, I used the interaction between oil-collecting bees and Krameria (Krameriaceae) as a system model. This thesis comprises the natural history of the studied system and manipulative experiments in situ to support the investigation on the phenotypic integration in a multipopulation context. In the first chapter, I studied the pollination biology of Krameria tomentosa, listing the flower visitor species associated to its flowers. Thus, I showed that this species depends on their pollinator for pollination success and that most oil-collecting bees recorded belongs to Centris genus (Centridini). However, I observed a high frequency of pollen-collecting bees on this species which might contribute to pollination maintenance in the population. In the second chapter, I showed that there is a geographic variation in the pollinator assemblage of K. grandiflora which includes different behavior and matching to Krameria floral architecture. Thus, I tested the functional significance of the three specialized structures of Krameria flowers (showy calyx, petaloid petals and elaiophores) in two contrasting pollinator-matching scenarios; however, no differences were detected. The mechanical fit provided by the elaiophores might be a keystone for the pollination success in Krameria. O ajuste mecânico que os elaióforos provêm parece essencial para o sucesso na polinização no grupo. In the third chapter, I demonstrated that populations with similar patterns of floral trait correlation comprise similar pollinator composition and functional diversity, suggesting that differences in pollinator morphology combined to abundance influences the pattern of phenotypic integration. Therefore, these results show a condition in which geographic variation in pollinator assemblage might provide divergence in the phenotypic correlation structure (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/00181-5 - Geographic mosaic structure of the interaction between Krameria Loefl. (Krameriaceae) species and oil collecting bees
• Grantee: Liedson Tavares de Sousa Carneiro
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate