Naranjo et al. provide a perspective on epiphyte–phorophyte networks and their placement with respect to the networks of other biotic interactions.
Tag - specialization
William Salter
Does a supergeneralist plant locally specialize on the most effective pollinators?
Umbellifers, a plant family that includes carrots, have striking inflorescences on stalks. Botanists have thought umbellifers have been generalists. They attract many different types of insect to their flowers. But is...
Alex Assiry
Fi Gennu
The diversity and evolution of pollination systems in the Apocynaceae
Interactions between flowering plants and their pollinators are known to be responsible for part of the tremendous diversity of the angiosperms, currently thought to number at least 350,000 species. Using a new database...
Specialisation and modularity of plant-pollinator networks
Modularity is the tendency of certain species to consistently interact with each other. It is a ubiquitous and important property of ecological networks that can determine the level of specialisation of species within...
botanyone
Defence dichotomy: coping with herbivores in air and water (Review)
Plant defence against herbivores is a crucial theme in the evolution of both plants and animals, yet it is expressed very differently in water and on land. Spines, hairs, and distance signalling are common in land...
Long-tongued hawkmoths form a pollination niche
The study highlights the value of a niche perspective for understanding the geographical context and functional significance of floral traits.
Host specificity in vascular epiphytes: a review of methodology, empirical evidence and potential mechanisms
A considerable number of plants depend on structural support by other plants. To understand their diversity and ecology, it is essential to know how strongly potential host species differ in their suitability as hosts...
AoBPLANTS
Pollination, flower size variation and floral symmetry
The pollinator-mediated stabilizing selection hypothesis suggests that the specialized pollination system of zygomorphic flowers might cause stabilizing selection, reducing their flower size variation compared to...
Pollination by sexual deception in Pterostylis
A single species of male gnat (Mycetophilidae) visits and pollinates the rewardless flowers of P. sanguinea. The gnats often show probing copulatory behaviour on the labellum, leading to its triggering and the temporary...
Plants adapt to accommodate a long proboscis in South Africa.
Our Grant-Stebbins week continues. Today it’s a question of looking at the geographical context of floral adaptations. Why might you find a plant here and not there? Is it the pollinators that cause it? Matching...
Alun Salt