Affiliation:
1. School of Natural Sciences Macquarie University Sydney NSW 2109 Australia
2. National Herbarium of New South Wales (NSW) Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
3. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University Richmond NSW 2753 Australia
4. Evolution and Ecology Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
Abstract
Summary
Most contemporary angiosperms (flowering plants) are insect pollinated, but pollination by wind, water or vertebrates occurs in many lineages. Though evidence suggests insect pollination may be ancestral in angiosperms, this is yet to be assessed across the full phylogeny. Here, we reconstruct the ancestral pollination mode of angiosperms and quantify the timing and environmental associations of pollination shifts.
We use a robust, dated phylogeny and species‐level sampling across all angiosperm families to model the evolution of pollination modes. Data on the pollination system or syndrome of 1160 species were collated from the primary literature.
Angiosperms were ancestrally insect pollinated, and insects have pollinated angiosperms for c. 86% of angiosperm evolutionary history. Wind pollination evolved at least 42 times, with few reversals to animal pollination. Transitions between insect and vertebrate pollination were more frequent: vertebrate pollination evolved at least 39 times from an insect‐pollinated ancestor with at least 26 reversals. The probability of wind pollination increases with habitat openness (measured by Leaf Area Index) and distance from the equator.
Our reconstruction gives a clear overview of pollination macroevolution across angiosperms, highlighting the long history of interactions between insect pollinators and angiosperms still vital to biodiversity today.
Cited by
11 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献