Reproductive biology and selection of floral attractiveness traits by legitimate and illegitimate visitors in the narrow endemic Collaea cipoensis (Fabaceae)

• Autor(a) principal: Irene Gélvez Zúñiga
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/36018
• topic: Antagonism; Floral attractiveness; Floral visitors; Illegitimate visitors; Legitimate visitors; Phenotypic selection; Reproductive success; Ecologia; Flores; Reprodução; Fabaceae

Plant interactions with flower visitors are essential to understand the reproductive biology, evolution and distribution of flowering plants. Attractiveness to pollinators plays a decisive role in the reproductive ecology of such species. Although, attractiveness involves that flowers undergo interactions with mutualistic pollinators, and simultaneously with antagonist visitors (i.e. nectar-robber, nectar-thieves, floral enemies). Pollinators are considered one of the main drivers of evolution on floral traits related to attractiveness, and nectar-robbers can affect plant reproductive success causing direct or indirect effects. The present study describes the floral morphology and reproductive aspects of Collaea cipoensis, addressing the selective effects of floral legitimate and illegitimate visitors on floral attractiveness. Was hypothesized that visitors counteract the selective positive effects of pollinators on flower size and number through female fitness components. A total of 43 species (with 4164 events of visitation) were recorded. Hummingbirds Eupetomena macroura and Colibri serrirostris were identified as the potential pollinators of the especies. The results demonstrate that plants with large number of open flowers are more attractive to both mutualistic (i.e potential pollinators) and antagonistic (i.e nectar-robbers, nectar-thieves) visitors, and also that nectar-robbers affect negatively the female reproductive capacity of the species by interfering with its production of fruits and seeds, and its seed number. The findings of this study, reinforce the idea that endemic and limited distributed species of the rupestrian grasslands have a very specific niche and are highly adapted to this complex scenario, in which strong selective pressures diminish the species likelihood to succeed in other areas.