2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Adaptive significance of floral color change from the viewpoint of cognitive learning and spatial use behavior in pollinators
| Project/Area Number |
22770012
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Ecology/Environment
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2010-04-01 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 種間関係 / 進化生態 |
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| Research Abstract |
By integrating approaches for evaluating floral colour through animal vision, phylogenetic effects on trait evolution, and phylogenetically independent correlations among traits, we conducted a screening search for floral colour change in 219 angiosperms species. We detected (i) a significant phylogenetic signal in the amount of floral colour change; that (ii) the evolution of floral colour change appeared constrained by pigment chemistry; and (iii) a possible association between floral colour change and bee pollination in an evolutionary sense. These results agree well with those from our laboratory experiments, in which we found that color-changing plants were visited by the same bumble-bee foragers more frequently and persistently than non-color-changing ones. In consistent with these results, we further found in field observations that a floral color-changing Weigela species depends more strongly on bee pollinators in reproduction than its non-colour-changing congener.
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Research Products
(21 results)
