10.5061/DRYAD.64835
Temeles, Ethan J.
Amherst College
Rah, Yoon J.
National Museum of Natural History
Andicoechea, Jonathan
Amherst College
Byanova, Katerina L.
Amherst College
Giller, Geoffrey S. J.
Amherst College
Stolk, Shaylon B.
Amherst College
Kress, W. J.
Smithsonian Institution
Data from: Pollinator-mediated selection in a specialized
hummingbird-Heliconia system in the eastern Caribbean
Dryad
dataset
2012
Eulampis jugularis
Floral polymorphisms
Heliconia
Heliconia caribaea
hummingbird
Heliconia bihai
Trochilidae
2012-10-24T14:45:45Z
2012-10-24T14:45:45Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12053
173056 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Phenotypic matches between plants and their pollinators often are
interpreted as examples of reciprocal selection and adaptation. For the
two co-occurring plant species, Heliconia bihai and H. caribaea in the
Eastern Caribbean, we evaluated for five populations over two years the
strength and direction of natural selection on corolla length and number
of bracts per inflorescence. These plant traits correspond closely to the
bill lengths and body masses of their primary pollinators, female or male
purple-throated carib hummingbirds (Eulampis jugularis). In H. bihai,
directional selection for longer corollas was always significant with the
exception of one population in one year, whereas selection on bract
numbers was rare and found only in one population in one year. In
contrast, significant directional selection for more bracts per
inflorescence occurred in all three populations of the yellow morph and in
two populations of the red morph of H. caribaea, whereas significant
directional selection on corolla length occurred in only one population of
the red morph and one population of the yellow morph. Selection for longer
corollas in H. bihai may result from better mechanical fit, and hence
pollination, by the long bills of female E. jugularis, their sole
pollinator. In contrast, competition between males of E. jugularis for
territories may drive selection for more bracts in H. caribaea.
Competitive exclusion of female E. jugularis by territorial males also
implicates pollinator competition as a possible ecological mechanism for
trait diversification in these plants.
Temeles et al Heliconia Bihai Population DataTemeles et al Heliconia bihai
floral trait and seed set dataTemeles et al Heliconia caribaea red morph
population dataTemeles et al Heliconia caribaea red morph population
dataTemeles et al Heliconia caribaea yellow morph population dataTemeles
et al Heliconia caribaea yellow morph floral trait and seed set data
Lesser Antilles
Eastern Caribbean
Dominica