| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Bignelli Valente Aguiar, Joao Marcelo Robazzi
[1, 2]
;
Giurfa, Martin
[3, 2, 4]
;
Sazima, Marlies
[5]
Total Authors: 3
|
| Affiliation: | [1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Programa Posgrad Ecol, Inst Biol, 6109 Ave Bertrand Russel S-N, BR-13083865 Sao Paulo - Brazil
[2] Univ Toulouse, CNRS, Ctr Integrat Biol, Res Ctr Anim Cognit, F-31062 Toulouse 09 - France
[3] Inst Univ France, Toulouse - France
[4] Fujian Agr & Forestry Univ, Coll Anim Sci, Coll Bee Sci, Fuzhou 350002 - Peoples R China
[5] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Dept Biol Vegetal, 6109 Ave Bertrand Russel S-N, BR-13083865 Sao Paulo - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 5
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | SCIENTIFIC REPORTS; v. 10, n. 1 JUN 11 2020. |
| Web of Science Citations: | 2 |
| Abstract | |
Intraspecific floral colour polymorphism is a common trait of food deceptive orchids, which lure pollinators with variable, attractive signals, without providing food resources. The variable signals are thought to hinder avoidance learning of deceptive flowers by pollinators. Here, we analysed the cognitive mechanisms underlying the choice of free-flying stingless bees Scaptotrigona aff. depilis trained to visit a patch of artificial flowers that displayed the colours of Ionopsis utricularioides, a food deceptive orchid. Bees were trained in the presence of a non-rewarding colour and later tested with that colour vs. alternative colours. We simulated a discrete-polymorphism scenario with two distinct non-rewarding test colours, and a continuous-polymorphism scenario with three non-rewarding test colours aligned along a chromatic continuum. Bees learned to avoid the non-rewarding colour experienced during training. They thus preferred the novel non-rewarding colour in the discrete-polymorphic situation, and generalized their avoidance to the adjacent colour of the continuum in the continuous-polymorphism situation, favouring thereby the most distant colour. Bees also visited less flowers and abandoned faster a non-rewarding monomorphic patch than a non-rewarding polymorphic patch. Our cognitive analyses thus reveal that variable deceptive orchids disrupt avoidance learning by pollinators and exploit their generalization abilities, which make them favour distinct morphs. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 15/05919-8 - Is floral trait polymorphism related to pollination in deceptive orchids? |
| Grantee: | João Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente Aguiar |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |