Deceptive Pollination Systems Research Articles

Flowering Phenology, Pollination, and Fruit Set of Cypripedium macranthos var. rebunense, a Threatened Lady's Slipper (Orchidaceae)

var. rebunense, was preliminarily studied on Rebun Island, Hokkaido, Japan, for conservation of this threatened orchid. The functional longevity of individual flowers varied from 0 to 18 days, a determining factor being the wind conditions at the growing sites. The flower was self-compatible but needed a pollen vector for fruit production. It lacked nectar and adopted a deceptive pollination system. Queens of a bumblebee, Bombus pseudo-baicalensis, were found to be pollinators but their visits were infrequent. Fruit set was 8.3% at one study site but only 1.2% at another, probably due to interference from the many visitors who came to see the flowers. Based on the results, conservation and management of lady's slipper were discussed. The need for less human interference and for preservation of the interactions between lady's slipper and its pollinator or other plant species with floral rewards is stressed.

Molecular analysis of orchid pollinaria and pollinaria-remains found on insects.

Direct observations of pollinator visits to orchids are often difficult and time consuming, especially in orchids with a deceptive pollination system where seed set is typically pollinator-limited. This lack of direct observations greatly inhibits our understanding of orchid-pollinator relationships and especially the degree of pollinator-specificity. Here we describe a molecular approach to the study of orchid-pollinator relationships based on the analysis of DNA recovered from pollinaria found on insects. The insects were collected from nectar-rich plants flowering near natural orchid populations, or taken from museum collections. Sequence analysis of the nuclear ribosomal ITS region allowed the identification of the orchid species or species-group from which the pollinaria originated. Four out of eight orchid-pollinator relationships established with this approach have not been reported previously, which highlights the value of molecular tools for the study of orchid pollination biology.

Pollen Carryover, Geitonogamy, and the Evolution of Deceptive Pollination Systems in Orchids

Geitonogamy (transfer of pollen among flowers on the same plant) may lead to reduced outcrossing and interfere with sex function. Orchids with pollen packaged into pollinaria would be expected to be particularly vulnerable to the loss of cross-mating opportunities imposed by geitonogamy. We tested the hypothesis that the absence of floral rewards in many orchid species is a means of reducing geitonogamy. Experiments with the deceptive species Orchis mascula and Orchis morio showed that queen bumble bees probe more flowers and stay longer on plants when artificial nectar is added to the flowers. Overall, the data indicated that the evolution of nectar production in deceptive Orchis species would result in moderate to high levels of geitonogamy, as a consequence of the greater number of flowers probed and longer visit duration (∼60 s) by pollinators. However, the estimated levels of geitonogamy were less than expected, due both to a time delay before freshly withdrawn pollinaria bend into the correct position to strike a stigma and to extensive carryover of pollen. The time elapsed before a freshly withdrawn pollinarium is in the correct position to strike the stigma was found to vary 30–80 s, depending on the orchid species. Since pollinators usually spend <30 s on an inflorescence, we estimate that natural populations of the study species are highly outcrossed. The fraction of the pollen load carried over from flower to flower was found to be 0.67 in O. mascula. Selection should favor longer delays in pollinaria bending and extensive pollen carryover in nectar-producing orchids. This is corroborated by the nectariferous orchid Platanthera chlorantha, which we found to have a pollinaria bending delay of 80 s and a high pollen carryover fraction (0.87). In general, selection for traits that prevent geitonogamy should occur only when pollinators are abundant. Since fruit set of orchids is usually pollinator limited, additional explanations may have to be sought to explain deception. The most plausible complementary hypothesis is that resources in pollinator-limited orchids are invested in advertising display, rather than nectar production.

ECOLOGICAL AND GENETIC CONSEQUENCES OF POLLINATION BY SEXUAL DECEPTION IN THE ORCHID CALADENIA TENTACTULATA.

Only orchids affect pollination by the deceptive sexual attraction of male insects, a syndrome particularly well developed in Australia. We examined the ecological and genetic consequences of exclusive pollination by sexually attracted male thynnine wasps in the orchid Caladenia tentaculata. Male wasps respond rapidly to flowers artificially presented in 1 × 1 m2 experimental patches. Sixty of 287 wasps approached within centimeters of the flower, but did not land. Of the remaining 79% who made floral contact, only 7.5% attempted copulation, the step critical for pollination. Wasps only rarely moved among patches (19% of flights) and none attempted copulation a second time, resembling observations in natural populations. We confirmed outcrossing and long distance pollen flow by monitoring how colored pollen moved in natural populations. Pollen movements approximated a linear rather than a leptokurtic distribution (mean distance: 17 m; maximum: 58 m). Pollinator visits varied independently of flower density in three of four populations with most solitary flowers being visited. Allozyme analysis revealed within-population fixation indices (F) close to zero and low levels of differentiation (FST) among populations. Despite behavioral evidence for long distance pollen flow, significant local genetic structure exists, perhaps reflecting restricted seed dispersal. Long distance pollen flow in C. tentaculata may therefore promote outbreeding by minimizing pollen transfers among related neighbors. Although this species is self-compatible, outcrossed progeny develop significantly faster than selfed progeny. Effective pollination at low flower densities could accentuate this advantage. The data are consistent with the predictions that deceptive pollination will result in long distance pollen flow, which may be of selective advantage at low density. Comparative studies of how food reward, food deceptive, and sexual deceptive pollination systems vary within a phylogenetic framework could further illuminate the evolution of sexual deception.

Deceptive pollination of Dactylorhiza incarnata: an experimental test of the magnet species hypothesis

Floral deception, which mainly appears in highly evolved families such as Orchidaceae, was studied in Central Finland. In nectarless Dactylorhiza incarnata, the deceptive pollination system has been considered to function best in remote habitats such as marshes, where flowering plants attractive to pollinators are rare (remote habitats hypothesis). In contrast, the magnet-species theory predicts that a nectarless plant benefits from growing in the vicinity of nectarcontaining species. We tested these hypotheses by adding attractive, nectar-containg violets (Viola x wittrockiana) to orchid populations. The percentage of fruit set in D. incarnata was adversely affected by the violets, probably because interspecific exploitation competition for pollinators took place in favour of the violas at the expense of the orchids. This result gave no support for the magnet-species theory and supported the remote habitats hypothesis.