THE GEOGRAPHICAL MOSAIC OF COEVOLUTION IN A PLANT–POLLINATOR MUTUALISM

Although coevolution is widely accepted as a concept, its importance as a driving factor in biological diversification is still being debated. Because coevolution operates mainly at the population level, reciprocal coadaptations should result in trait covariation among populations of strongly intera...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2008-01, Vol.62 (1), p.220-225
Main Authors: Anderson, Bruce, Johnson, Steven D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Botany
Brief Communication
BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS
Coevolution
Corolla
Demography
Diptera - anatomy & histology
Diptera - genetics
Diptera - physiology
Evolution
Flowers
Flowers - anatomy & histology
Flowers - genetics
Flowers - physiology
Genetics
Geography
Insects
long-proboscid fly
Mutualism
natural selection
pairwise coevolution
Phenotypic traits
Plants
Pollinating insects
pollination
Population characteristics
Proboscis
Symbiosis
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Summary:Although coevolution is widely accepted as a concept, its importance as a driving factor in biological diversification is still being debated. Because coevolution operates mainly at the population level, reciprocal coadaptations should result in trait covariation among populations of strongly interacting species. A long-tongued fly (Prosoeca ganglbaueri) and its primary floral food plant (Zaluzianskya microsiphon) were studied across both of their geographical ranges. The dimensions of the fly's proboscis and the flower's corolla tube length varied significantly among sites and were strongly correlated with each other. In addition, the match between tube length of flowers and tongue length of flies was found to affect plant fitness. The relationship between flower tube length and fly proboscis length remained significant in models that included various alternative environmental (altitude, longitude, latitude) and allometric (fly body size, flower diameter) predictor variables. We conclude that coevolution is a compelling explanation for the geographical covariation in flower depth and fly proboscis length.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00275.x