TY - JOUR
T1 - Where have all the blue flowers gone
T2 - Pollinator responses and selection on flower colour in New Zealand Wahlenbergia albomarginata
AU - Campbell, D. R.
AU - Bischoff, M.
AU - Lord, J. M.
AU - Robertson, A. W.
PY - 2012/2/1
Y1 - 2012/2/1
N2 - Although pollinators are thought to select on flower colour, few studies have experimentally decoupled effects of colour from correlated traits on pollinator visitation and pollen transfer. We combined selection analysis and phenotypic manipulations to measure the effect of petal colour on visitation and pollen export at two spatial scales in Wahlenbergia albomarginata. This species is representative of many New Zealand alpine herbs that have secondarily evolved white or pale flowers. The major pollinators, solitary bees, exerted phenotypic selection on flower size but not colour, quantified by bee vision. When presented with manipulated flowers, bees visited flowers painted blue to resemble a congener over white flowers in large, but not small, experimental arrays. Pollen export was higher for blue flowers in large arrays. Pollinator preference does not explain the pale colouration of W. albomarginata, as commonly hypothesized. Absence of bright blue could be driven instead by indirect selection of correlated characters.
AB - Although pollinators are thought to select on flower colour, few studies have experimentally decoupled effects of colour from correlated traits on pollinator visitation and pollen transfer. We combined selection analysis and phenotypic manipulations to measure the effect of petal colour on visitation and pollen export at two spatial scales in Wahlenbergia albomarginata. This species is representative of many New Zealand alpine herbs that have secondarily evolved white or pale flowers. The major pollinators, solitary bees, exerted phenotypic selection on flower size but not colour, quantified by bee vision. When presented with manipulated flowers, bees visited flowers painted blue to resemble a congener over white flowers in large, but not small, experimental arrays. Pollen export was higher for blue flowers in large arrays. Pollinator preference does not explain the pale colouration of W. albomarginata, as commonly hypothesized. Absence of bright blue could be driven instead by indirect selection of correlated characters.
KW - Flower colour
KW - Male fitness
KW - Phenotypic manipulation
KW - Phenotypic selection
KW - Pollination
KW - Solitary bee
KW - Spatial scale
KW - Wahlenbergia albomarginata
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855841693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84855841693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02430.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02430.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 22151952
AN - SCOPUS:84855841693
SN - 1010-061X
VL - 25
SP - 352
EP - 364
JO - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
JF - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
IS - 2
ER -