Floral reorientation: the restoration of pollination accuracy after accidents

W. Scott Armbruster; Nathan Muchhala

doi:10.1111/nph.16482

journal article Apr 06, 2020

Floral reorientation: the restoration of pollination accuracy after accidents

W. Scott Armbruster

Nathan Muchhala

New Phytologist Vol. 227 No. 1 pp. 232-243 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/nph.16482

Abstract

SummaryPlants sometimes suffer mechanical injury. The nonlethal collapse of a flowering stalk, for example, can greatly reduce plant fitness if it leads to ‘incorrect’ floral orientation and thus reduced visitation or poor pollination. When floral orientation is important for accurate pollination, as has been suggested for bilaterally symmetrical flowers, we predict that such flowers should have developmental and/or behavioural mechanisms for restoring ‘correct’ orientation after accidents.We made observations and conducted experiments on 23 native and cultivated flowering plant species in Australia, South America, North America and Europe.We found that flowers with bilateral symmetry usually have the capacity to reorient after accidents, and that this is manifested through rapid bending and/or rotation of pedicels or sexual organs or slower peduncle bending. Floral reorientation restores pollination accuracy and fit with pollinators. However, experimental floral misorientation in eight species with radially symmetrical flowers showed that, with one exception, they had little capacity to reorient their flowers, in line with expectations that the orientation of radially symmetrical flowers does not substantially affect pollination accuracy.Our results suggest that quick corrective reorientation of bilaterally symmetrical flowers is adaptive, highlighting a little‐studied aspect of plant–pollinator interactions and plant evolution.

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Metrics

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Citations

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References

Details

Published: Apr 06, 2020
Vol/Issue: 227(1)
Pages: 232-243
License: View

Authors

W

W. Scott Armbruster

School of Biological Sciences University of Portsmouth Portsmouth PO1 2DY UK; Institute of Arctic Biology University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks AK 99775‐7000 USA

N

Nathan Muchhala

Department of Biology University of Missouri‐St Louis St Louis MO 63121‐4499 USA

Funding

Royal Society

British Council

National Geographic Society

Cite This Article

W. Scott Armbruster, Nathan Muchhala (2020). Floral reorientation: the restoration of pollination accuracy after accidents. New Phytologist, 227(1), 232-243. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16482

Floral reorientation: the restoration of pollination accuracy after accidents

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