Abstract
In low-density butterfly-pollinated Mussaenda frondosa (Rubiaceae), flowers attract pollinators at short distances while conspicuous, non-rewarding accessory bracts are detectable at long distances by long-ranging pollinators such as the birdwing butterfly Troides minos that did not detect flower-bearing plants in the absence of these bracts. However, even in the absence of flowers, the white, ultraviolet-absorbing bracts attracted butterflies that visited flowerless plants. Although flower visits by short-ranging territorial butterflies declined significantly on removal of bracts, they did not cease completely. Nectar-robbing carpenter bees and birds did not change their behaviour following bract removal. Bract removal caused a significant decline in fruit set, indicating their importance as visual signals to pollinators.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Andreas Gumbert for the spectral reflectance measurements; Veena C.P. for field assistance; Lars Chittka, Andreas Gumbert, Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, Almut Kelber, Peter Kevan, Michiyo Kinoshita, Doekele Stavenga and Misha Vorobyev for useful suggestions; and Almut Kelber, Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, and the reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
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Borges, R.M., Gowda, V. & Zacharias, M. Butterfly pollination and high-contrast visual signals in a low-density distylous plant. Oecologia 136, 571–573 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1336-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1336-y