Analysis of trait-performance-fitness relationships reveals pollinator-mediated selection on orchid pollination traits.

Publisher: Wiley Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0370467 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1537-2197 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00029122 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Am J Bot Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2018-> : [Philadelphia, PA] : Wiley
Original Publication: Baltimore Md : Botanical Society Of America

Pollination* ; Orchidaceae*; Reproduction ; Pollen ; Phenotype

Premise: The role of pollinators in evolutionary floral divergence has spurred substantial effort into measuring pollinator-mediated phenotypic selection and its variation in space and time. For such estimates, the fitness consequences of pollination processes must be separated from other factors affecting fitness.
Methods: We built a fitness function linking phenotypic traits of food-deceptive orchids to female reproductive success by including pollinator visitation and pollen deposition as intermediate performance components and used the fitness function to estimate the strength of pollinator-mediated selection through female reproductive success. We also quantified male performance as pollinarium removal and assessed similarity in trait effects on male and female performance.
Results: The proportion of plants visited at least once by an effective pollinator was moderate to high, ranging from 53.7% to 85.1%. Tall, many-flowered plants were often more likely to be visited and pollinated. Given effective pollination, pollen deposition onto stigmas tended to be more likely for taller plants. Pollen deposition further depended on traits affecting the physical fit of pollinators to flowers (flower size, spur length), though the exact relationships varied in time and space. Using the fitness function to assess pollinator-mediated selection through female reproductive success acting on multiple traits, we found that selection varied detectably among taxa after accounting for sampling uncertainty. Across taxa, selection on most traits was stronger on average and more variable when pollination was less reliable.
Conclusions: These results support pollination-related trait-performance-fitness relationships and thus pollinator-mediated selection on traits functionally involved in the pollination process.
(© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Botany published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Botanical Society of America.)

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Keywords: food deception; path analysis; phenotypic selection; plant-pollinator interactions; selection gradient

Date Created: 20230119 Date Completed: 20230703 Latest Revision: 20231212

20231215

10.1002/ajb2.16128

36655508