Title |
Hybrid floral scent novelty drives pollinator shift in sexually deceptive orchids
|
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Published in |
BMC Ecology and Evolution, April 2010
|
DOI | 10.1186/1471-2148-10-103 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Nicolas J Vereecken, Salvatore Cozzolino, Florian P Schiestl |
Abstract |
Sexually deceptive orchids of the genus Ophrys attract their pollinators, male insects, on a highly specific basis through the emission of odour blends that mimic the female sex pheromone of the targeted species. In this study, we have investigated a contact site between Ophrys arachnitiformis and O. lupercalis, two sympatric orchid species that are usually reproductively isolated via the exploitation of different pollinator "niches", but occasionally hybridise despite their apparent combination of ethological and mechanical isolation barriers. In particular, we have investigated the extent to which these Ophrys hybrids generate "emergent" combinations (i.e. novel and unpredictable from the parents' phenotypes) of floral traits, and how these phenotypic novelties, particularly the odour blends emitted by the flower, could facilitate the invasion of a novel pollinator "niche" and induce the rapid formation of reproductive isolation, a prerequisite for adaptive evolutionary divergence. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Spain | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Brazil | 5 | 3% |
United Kingdom | 4 | 2% |
United States | 4 | 2% |
India | 1 | <1% |
Costa Rica | 1 | <1% |
Réunion | 1 | <1% |
China | 1 | <1% |
Colombia | 1 | <1% |
Japan | 1 | <1% |
Other | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 147 | 88% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 38 | 23% |
Researcher | 28 | 17% |
Student > Master | 19 | 11% |
Student > Bachelor | 18 | 11% |
Professor | 15 | 9% |
Other | 32 | 19% |
Unknown | 17 | 10% |
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---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 110 | 66% |
Environmental Science | 16 | 10% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 8 | 5% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 2 | 1% |
Computer Science | 1 | <1% |
Other | 3 | 2% |
Unknown | 27 | 16% |