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Out of Africa: evidence of the obligate mutualism between long corolla tubed plant and long-tongued fly in the Himalayas.

ABSTRACT: Mutualism between long corolla tubed plants and their potential pollinators, long-tongued flies, is a classic example of coevolution, but to date, has only been reported from the regions of southern Africa. Many plant species from the Himalayas also show botanical characteristics that could be consistent with pollination by long-tongued flies. Here, we seek the evidence of the "long-tongued-long tubed fly/flower" mutualism out of Africa, in a different continent and climatic region, the Himalayas.Floral traits of Himalayan region endemic alpine genus, Roscoea, indicate possible mutualism with long-tongued flies for pollination success; however, effective pollinators of this genus are yet unknown. This study investigates whether long-tongued flies and Roscoea purpurea in Nepal Himalayas show exclusive mutualism for their survival/reproduction.We made extensive observations of floral visitors of R. purpurea and food source of Philoliche longirostris across their wide ranges of populations in Nepal Himalayas for three consecutive years (2012-2014). To confirm the obligate reliance of R. purpurea upon P. longirostris for pollination success, manipulated pollination experiments were conducted at two populations for 2 years. Similarly foraging behavior, visitation frequency, and pollination efficiency of P. longirostris were assessed at two populations for 2 years, and its contribution for the reproductive success of R. purpurea was evaluated. Our results indicate that R. purpurea is self-compatible but lacks autonomous selfing and obligatorily relies on P. longirostris for reproductive success. Across all populations, P. longirostris was observed as an exclusive and highly efficient pollinator of R. purpurea, while P. longirostris exclusively depends up on R. purpurea for food source.Out of Africa, this study provides the first evidence of long-tongued fly pollination system and indicates the possibility of additional instances of such a rare phenomenon in the Himalayas. Finding of specialized pollinator of Roscoea only at its evolutionary center indicates that Roscoea species are originally pollinated by long-tongued flies. Spatial mismatch with specialized pollinators may have induced the evolution of autonomous selfing in North Indochinese clades of Roscoea. This finding thus substantiates how geographic disjunction causes the shifting of pollination mechanism in closely related plant species.

SUBMITTER: Paudel BR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6102519 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Out of Africa: evidence of the obligate mutualism between long corolla tubed plant and long-tongued fly in the Himalayas.

Paudel Babu Ram BR Shrestha Mani M Dyer Adrian G AG Zhu Xing-Fu XF Abdusalam Aysajan A Li Qing-Jun QJ

Ecology and evolution 20151022 22

Mutualism between long corolla tubed plants and their potential pollinators, long-tongued flies, is a classic example of coevolution, but to date, has only been reported from the regions of southern Africa. Many plant species from the Himalayas also show botanical characteristics that could be consistent with pollination by long-tongued flies. Here, we seek the evidence of the "long-tongued-long tubed fly/flower" mutualism out of Africa, in a different continent and climatic region, the Himalaya ...[more]

PMID: 30151127

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Project description:Background and aimsUnrelated organisms that share similar niches often exhibit patterns of convergent evolution in functional traits. Based on bimodal distributions of hawkmoth tongue lengths and tubular white flowers in Africa, this study hypothesized that long-tongued hawkmoths comprise a pollination niche (ecological opportunity) that is distinct from that of shorter-tongued hawkmoths.MethodsField observations, light trapping, camera surveillance and pollen load analysis were used to identify pollinators of plant species with very long-tubed (>8?cm) flowers. The nectar properties and spectral reflectance of these flowers were also measured. The frequency distributions of proboscis length for all captured hawkmoths and floral tube length for a representative sample of night-blooming plant species were determined. The geographical distributions of both native and introduced plant species with very long floral tubes were mapped.Key resultsThe convolvulus hawkmoth Agrius convolvuli is identified as the most important pollinator of African plants with very long-tubed flowers. Plants pollinated by this hawkmoth species tend to have a very long (approx. 10?cm) and narrow flower tube or spur, white flowers and large volumes of dilute nectar. It is estimated that >70 grassland and savanna plant species in Africa belong to the Agrius pollination guild. In South Africa, at least 23 native species have very long floral tubes, and pollination by A. convolvuli or, rarely, by the closely related hawkmoth Coelonia fulvinotata, has been confirmed for 11 of these species. The guild is strikingly absent from the species-rich Cape floral region and now includes at least four non-native invasive species with long-tubed flowers that are pre-adapted for pollination by A. convolvuli.ConclusionsThis study highlights the value of a niche perspective on pollination, which provides a framework for making predictions about the ecological importance of keystone pollinators, and for understanding patterns of convergent evolution and the role of floral traits in plant colonization.

Dataset Information

Out of Africa: evidence of the obligate mutualism between long corolla tubed plant and long-tongued fly in the Himalayas.

Publications

Out of Africa: evidence of the obligate mutualism between long corolla tubed plant and long-tongued fly in the Himalayas.

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