Bird pollination syndrome is the plant's adaptation to ornithophily, but nectarivorous birds are not so selective

Oikos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kryštof Chmel ◽  
Francis Luma Ewome ◽  
Guillermo Uceda Gómez ◽  
Yannick Klomberg ◽  
Jan E. J. Mertens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Bird Pollination

scholarly journals The Manú Gradient as a study system for bird pollination

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e22241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mannfred Boehm ◽  
Micah Scholer ◽  
Jeremiah Kennedy ◽  
Julian Heavyside ◽  
Aniceto Daza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Bird Pollination ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
San Pedro ◽  
History Of ◽  
Voucher Specimens ◽  
The University ◽  
Species Being

This study establishes an altiudinal gradient, spanning from the highland Andes (2400 m) to lowland Amazon, as a productive region for the study of bird pollination in Southeastern Peru. The 'Manú Gradient' has a rich history of ornithological research, the published data and resources from which lay the groundwork for analyses of plant-bird interactions. In this preliminary expedition we documented 44 plants exhibting aspects of the bird pollination syndrome, and made field observations of hummingbird visits at three sites spanning the Manú Gradient: 2800 m (Wayqecha), 1400 m (San Pedro), and 400 m (Pantiacolla). Some of the documented plant taxa are underrepresented in the bird pollination literature and could be promising avenues for future analyses of their pollination biology. The Manú Gradient is currently the focus of a concerted, international effort to describe and study the birds in the region; we propose that this region of Southeastern Peru is a productive and perhaps underestimated system to gain insight into the ecology and evolution of bird pollination.Observations were made on 11, 19, and 14 putatively bird pollinated plant species found at the high-, mid- and low-elevation sites along the gradient, respectively. Hummingbirds visited 18 of these plant species, with some plant species being visited by multiple hummingbird species or the same hummingbird species on differing occasions. Morphometric data is presented for putatively bird-pollinated plants, along with bill measurements from hummingbirds captured at each of three sites. Voucher specimens from this study are deposited in the herbaria of the Universidad Nacional de Agraria de La Molina (MOL), Peru and the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. The specimens collected represent a ‘snapshot’ of the diversity of bird-pollinated flora as observed over 10 day sampling windows (per site) during the breeding season for hummingbirds of Manú .

Reproductive biology, ecology and conservation of Carmichaelia williamsii (Fabaceae), a vulnerable legume from New Zealand

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Heenan ◽  
Peter J. De Lange
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Reproductive Biology ◽  
Flower Morphology ◽  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Bird Pollination ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Morphology And Structure ◽  
Nectar Source ◽  
Conservation And Management

Carmichaelia williamsii is a threatened leguminous shrub that is most common on the Poor Knights Islands and Aldermen Islands, northern New Zealand. Flower morphology and structure of C. williamsii is suited to a bird pollination syndrome as the floral parts are stout, the petals yellow, the nectar source is distant from the stigma, and the flowers lack scent. The stigma is covered by a protective cuticle that prevents pollination until it is ruptured, which would usually be by foraging birds. Experimental self- and cross-pollinations demonstrated that if the cuticle is not ruptured fertilization will not occur, and that the species is self-compatible. Field observations on Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands, confirmed that C. williamsii is probably bird pollinated as plants in full flower were being systematically worked by the native passerine honeyeater the Bellbird (Anthornis me/anura; Meliphagidae). C. williamsii mainly grows in seral habitats, and populations often comprise plants of a similar height class. Introduced rats and the loss of pollinating birds could pose conservation and management problems for the species.

scholarly journals Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1781) ◽  
pp. 20132862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Burd ◽  
C. Tristan Stayton ◽  
Mani Shrestha ◽  
Adrian G. Dyer
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Floral Colour ◽  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Colour Space ◽  
Bird Pollination ◽  
Long Wavelength ◽  
Avian Vision ◽  
Australian Birds

We used a colour-space model of avian vision to assess whether a distinctive bird pollination syndrome exists for floral colour among Australian angiosperms. We also used a novel phylogenetically based method to assess whether such a syndrome represents a significant degree of convergent evolution. About half of the 80 species in our sample that attract nectarivorous birds had floral colours in a small, isolated region of colour space characterized by an emphasis on long-wavelength reflection. The distinctiveness of this ‘red arm’ region was much greater when colours were modelled for violet-sensitive (VS) avian vision than for the ultraviolet-sensitive visual system. Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) are the dominant avian nectarivores in Australia and have VS vision. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest that 31 lineages evolved into the red arm region, whereas simulations indicate that an average of five or six lineages and a maximum of 22 are likely to have entered in the absence of selection. Thus, significant evolutionary convergence on a distinctive floral colour syndrome for bird pollination has occurred in Australia, although only a subset of bird-pollinated taxa belongs to this syndrome. The visual system of honeyeaters has been the apparent driver of this convergence.

Floral biology of Hemigenia and Microcorys (Lamiaceae)

2005 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Guerin
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Floral Morphology ◽  
Corolla Tube ◽  
Floral Biology ◽  
Pollen Deposition ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Bird Pollination ◽  
Insect Pollinators

The floral morphology and pollination of Hemigenia R.Br. and Microcorys R.Br. (Lamiaceae) were examined in the field and laboratory. The protandrous flowers have tubular, two-lipped corollas. Nine floral morphotypes are described. The stamens may be completely sterile (staminodal) or have one theca reduced or absent. The anthers typically have elongated connective tissue and are mobile on the filament. When the lower end of the anther is pushed, the upper end is levered towards the mouth of the corolla tube, hence dusting the pollinator precisely where receptive stigmas will later touch. Bearding on the anthers of the adaxial stamens catches adjacent anthers so that they lever in unison. Staminodes guide insect pollinators into the throat to allow precise pollen dusting. Detailed field observations show that bees and flies are the principle pollinators of most species. Floral morphologies are related to pollinator castes, and reproductive isolation and efficiency is enhanced by precise pollen deposition. Bird pollination is likely to have arisen independently in several taxa. The floral arrangement of these taxa is superficially similar but the syndrome is achieved through different anatomy.

Bird pollination in South African Salvia species

Flora ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 201 (5) ◽  
pp. 396-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Wester ◽  
Regine Claßen-Bockhoff
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Bird Pollination

How specialised is bird pollination in the Cactaceae?

Plant Biology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Gorostiague ◽  
P. Ortega-Baes
Keyword(s):  
Bird Pollination

Buzz pollination in the Epacridaceae

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. F. Houston ◽  
P. G. Ladd
Keyword(s):  
Seed Set ◽  
Corolla Tube ◽  
Pollen Tubes ◽  
Pollination Syndrome ◽  
Native Bees ◽  
Buzz Pollination ◽  
The Family

Conostephium (Epacridaceae) has flowers that conform with a buzz-pollination syndrome but, unlike most plants with this form of pollination, the anthers are hidden within the corolla tube. Vibrations generated by bees grasping the apices of the corolla tubes must be transferred via short broad filaments to the anthers. The anthers do not have pores but each dehisces from the apex by a slit that elongates over the time the flowers take to senesce (up to 10 days). This may limit self-fertilisation as the stigma is receptive as soon as it appears from between the very short corolla lobes, so little pollen is released at first but later this would increase as the slit elongates. Visitation by pollinators has rarely been seen but several observations of native bees (Leioproctus and Lasioglossum) working the flowers are presented. The bees visit the nectarless flowers of Conostephium only for pollen and must forage at other kinds of flowers to obtain nectar. Pollen tubes occurred in the stigmas of most older flowers of C. pendulum, so pollen delivery does not seem to limit seed set. Despite this, the species sets few fruit. From examination of the taxonomic positions of likely buzz-pollinated taxa in the family, it appears that pollination by sonication has arisen independently several times in the Epacridaceae, with primarily two different floral configurations.

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