How flower colour signals allure bees and hummingbirds: a community-level test of the bee avoidance hypothesis

Autor(es)

Gutierrez de Camargo, Maria Gabriela ^[1] ; Lunau, Klaus ^[2] ; Batalha, Marco Antonio ^[3] ; Brings, Sebastian ^[2] ; Garcia de Brito, Vinicius Lourenco ^[4] ; Cerdeira Morellato, Leonor Patricia ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, Dept Bot, Lab Fenol, BR-13506900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Heinrich Heine Univ Dusseldorf, Inst Sensory Ecol, Dept Biol, D-40225 Dusseldorf - Germany

^[3] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Bot, BR-13565905 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Univ Fed Uberlandia, Inst Biol, BR-38400902 Uberlandia, MG - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: NEW PHYTOLOGIST; v. 222, n. 2, p. 1112-1122, APR 2019.
• Citações Web of Science: 5

Resumo

Colour signals are the main floral trait for plant-pollinator communication. Owing to visual specificities, flower visitors exert different selective pressures on flower colour signals of plant communities. Although they evolved to attract pollinators, matching their visual sensitivity and colour preferences, floral signals may also evolve to avoid less efficient pollinators and antagonistic flower visitors. We evaluated evidence for the bee avoidance hypothesis in a Neotropical community pollinated mainly by bees and hummingbirds, the campo rupestre. We analysed flower reflectance spectra, compared colour variables of bee-pollinated flowers (bee-flowers; 244 species) and hummingbird-pollinated flowers (hummingbird-flowers; 39 species), and looked for evidence of bee sensorial exclusion in hummingbird-flowers. Flowers were equally contrasting for hummingbirds. Hummingbird-flowers were less conspicuous to bees, reflecting mainly long wavelengths and avoiding red-blind visitors. Bee-flowers reflected more short wavelengths, were more conspicuous to bees (higher contrasts and spectral purity) than hummingbird-flowers and displayed floral guides more frequently, favouring flower attractiveness, discrimination and handling by bees. Along with no phylogenetic signal, the differences in colour signal strategies between bee- and hummingbird-flowers are the first evidence of the bee avoidance hypothesis at a community level and reinforce the role of pollinators as a selective pressure driving flower colour diversity. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 10/51307-0 - Diversidade florística e padrões sazonais dos campos rupestres e cerrado
• Beneficiário: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Parceria para Inovação Tecnológica - PITE
• Processo FAPESP: 17/01663-4 - Análises das cores das flores de uma comunidade de campo rupestre conforme o sistema de visão dos polinizadores
• Beneficiário: Maria Gabriela Gutierrez de Camargo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 15/10754-8 - Variação espácio-temporal no espectro de cores de flores conforme a visão dos polinizadores
• Beneficiário: Maria Gabriela Gutierrez de Camargo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 13/50155-0 - Combining new technologies to monitor phenology from leaves to ecosystems
• Beneficiário: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais - PITE
• Processo FAPESP: 09/54208-6 - EMU: Laboratório Multiusuário Centralizado do Núcleo de Estudos em Biodiversidade da UNESP
• Beneficiário: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Equipamentos Multiusuários