Flower Color Evolution and the Evidence of Pollinator-Mediated Selection
Open Access
- 26 July 2021
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Plant Science
Abstract
The evolution of floral traits in animal-pollinated plants involves the interaction between flowers as signal senders and pollinators as signal receivers. Flower colors are very diverse, effect pollinator attraction and flower foraging behavior, and are hypothesized to be shaped through pollinator-mediated selection. However, most of our current understanding of flower color evolution arises from variation between discrete color morphs and completed color shifts accompanying pollinator shifts, while evidence for pollinator-mediated selection on continuous variation in flower colors within populations is still scarce. In this review, we summarize experiments quantifying selection on continuous flower color variation in natural plant populations in the context of pollinator interactions. We found that evidence for significant pollinator-mediated selection is surprisingly limited among existing studies. We propose several possible explanations related to the complexity in the interaction between the colors of flowers and the sensory and cognitive abilities of pollinators as well as pollinator behavioral responses, on the one hand, and the distribution of variation in color phenotypes and fitness, on the other hand. We emphasize currently persisting weaknesses in experimental procedures, and provide some suggestions for how to improve methodology. In conclusion, we encourage future research to bring together plant and animal scientists to jointly forward our understanding of the mechanisms and circumstances of pollinator-mediated selection on flower color.Keywords
This publication has 131 references indexed in Scilit:
- Analysing photonic structures in plantsJournal of The Royal Society Interface, 2013
- Evaluating the spectral discrimination capabilities of different pollinators and their effect on the evolution of flower colorsCommunicative & Integrative Biology, 2013
- Floral signposts: testing the significance of visual ‘nectar guides’ for pollinator behaviour and plant fitnessProceedings. Biological sciences, 2011
- Colour processing in complex environments: insights from the visual system of beesProceedings. Biological sciences, 2010
- Pollinators exert natural selection on flower size and floral display inPenstemon digitalisNew Phytologist, 2010
- From spectral information to animal colour vision: experiments and conceptsProceedings. Biological sciences, 2010
- A review of the evolution of animal colour vision and visual communication signalsVision Research, 2008
- Tetrachromacy in a butterfly that has eight varieties of spectral receptorsProceedings. Biological sciences, 2008
- Flower Color Microevolution in Wild Radish: Evolutionary Response to Pollinator‐Mediated SelectionThe American Naturalist, 2005
- The ecology and evolution of visual pollen signalsÖsterreichische botanische Zeitschrift, 2000