An ancient push-pull pollination mechanism in cycads
Most cycads engage in brood-site pollination mutualisms, yet the mechanism by which the Cycadales entice pollination services from diverse insect mutualists remains unknown. Here, we characterize a push-pull pollination mechanism between a New World cycad and its weevil pollinators that mirrors the...
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Published in | Science advances Vol. 6; no. 24; p. eaay6169 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
American Association for the Advancement of Science
01.06.2020
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Most cycads engage in brood-site pollination mutualisms, yet the mechanism by which the Cycadales entice pollination services from diverse insect mutualists remains unknown. Here, we characterize a push-pull pollination mechanism between a New World cycad and its weevil pollinators that mirrors the mechanism between a distantly related Old World cycad and its thrips pollinators. The behavioral convergence between weevils and thrips, combined with molecular phylogenetic dating and a meta-analysis of thermogenesis and coordinated patterns of volatile attraction and repulsion suggest that a push-pull pollination mutualism strategy is ancestral in this ancient, dioecious plant group. Hence, it may represent one of the earliest insect/plant pollination mechanisms, arising long before the evolution of visual floral signaling commonly used by flowering plants. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Present address: School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Section of Plant Biology, Cornell University, 502 Mann Library, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. These authors share senior authorship. |
ISSN: | 2375-2548 2375-2548 |
DOI: | 10.1126/sciadv.aay6169 |