Flower colour within communities shifts from overdispersed to clustered along an alpine altitudinal gradient.

Abstract

Altitudinal gradients are interesting models to test the effect of biotic and abiotic drivers of floral colour diversity, since an increase in UV irradiance, decrease of pollinator availability and shifts from bee- to fly-pollination in high relative to low altitudes are expected. We tested the effect of altitude and phylogeny, using several chromatic and achromatic colour properties, UV reflectance and pollinators' discrimination capacity (Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris, Musca domestica and Eristalis tenax), to understand the floral colour diversity in an alpine altitudinal gradient. All colour properties were weakly related to phylogeny. We found a shift from overdispersed floral colours and high chromatic contrast with the background (for bees) in the low altitude, to clustered floral colours (UV and green range for bees and flies) and clustered chromatic and achromatic properties in the high altitude. Different from flies, bees could discriminate floral colours in all altitudinal ranges. Low altitudes are likely to exhibit suitable conditions for more plant species, increasing competition for pollinators and floral colour divergence. Conversely, the increase in UV irradiance in high altitudes may filter plants with specific floral UV-reflectance patterns. Overall, floral colour diversity suggests that both biotic (pollinator fauna) and abiotic (UV irradiance) drivers shape floral communities, but their importance changes with altitude.