Full text
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| Author(s): |
Beatriz Lucas Arida
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2025-04-22 |
| Examining board members: |
Fábio Pinheiro;
Edlley Max Pessoa da Silva;
Natalia Costa Soares
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| Advisor: | Fábio Pinheiro; Maria Gabriela Gutierrez Camargo |
| Abstract | |
Deceptive plants often exhibit elevated levels of polymorphism. The reasons laying at the basis of the association between flower polymorphism and deceptive strategies, however, remain unclear. Epidendrum fulgens Brongn. is a Neotropical deceptive orchid pollinated by butterflies which has an unexplored intrapopulational flower colour polymorphism, with red, yellow and orange flowers. Here, we investigate the consequences of this polymorphism on its reproductive success. We performed field and common garden experiments, aiming to detect pollinator-mediated natural selection strength and direction over time, and test whether the presence of multiple colour morphs increases species reproductive success. In the field, we monitored plants' reproductive success and floral morphology on two populations over two flowering seasons and with this data we performed selection gradient analyses. In the common garden we assembled plots of cultivated plants with same and different flower colour individuals (i.e., mono and polymorphic plots), exposed them to pollinators and monitored their reproductive success. In both activities, we also monitored the local pollinator community. In the field, colour morphs performed equally, but we found coherences between morphological differentiation and the direction of natural selection, which was very dynamic. In common garden, mono and polymorphic plots also performed equally, with highly variable reproductive success over time. We also found a highly diverse pollinator community both in the field and in the common garden. Our results suggest that flower polymorphism in E. fulgens is maintained by combining factors, including varying pollinator-mediated selection, assortative mating due to differential pollinator preferences and different phenotypes’ inheritabilities. Natural selection varied across time and space, indicating a dynamic interplay between pollinators and flower morphs (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 21/10798-6 - What maintains the floral polymorphism in Epidendrum fulgens (Orchidaceae)? |
| Grantee: | Beatriz Lucas Arida |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |