Abstract
The size-advantage model (SAM) explains the temporal variation of energetic investment on reproductive structures (i.e. male and female gametes and reproductive organs) in long-lived hermaphroditic plants and animals. It proposes that an increase in the resources available to an organism induces a higher relative investment on the most energetically costly sexual structures. In plants, pollination interactions are known to play an important role in the evolution of floral features. Because the SAM directly concerns flower characters, pollinators are expected to have a strong influence on the application of the model. This hypothesis, however, has never been tested. Here, we investigate whether the identity and diversity of pollinators can be used as a proxy to predict the application of the SAM in exclusive zoophilous plants. We present a new approach to unravel the dynamics of the model and test it on several widespread Arum (Araceae) species. By identifying the species composition, abundance and spatial variation of arthropods trapped in inflorescences, we show that some species (i.e. A. cylindraceum and A. italicum) display a generalist reproductive strategy, relying on the exploitation of a low number of dipterans, in contrast to the pattern seen in the specialist A. maculatum (pollinated specifically by two fly species only). Based on the model presented here, the application of the SAM is predicted for the first two and not expected in the latter species, those predictions being further confirmed by allometric measures. We here demonstrate that while an increase in the female zone occurs in larger inflorescences of generalist species, this does not happen in species demonstrating specific pollinators. This is the first time that this theory is both proposed and empirically tested in zoophilous plants. Its overall biological importance is discussed through its application in other non-Arum systems.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Dr. Kącki, Dr. Dajdok (University of Wrocław, Poland), Dr. Triponez and Prof. Küpfer (University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland) for their invaluable technical assistance during field work. They also thank Dr. Haenni, Dr. Rulik, Dr. Lods-Crozet, Mr. Chandler, Dr. Rohácek, Dr. Skuhravà and Dr. Szadziewski for their indispensable help during insect identification, and J. Litman for correcting the English. We thank two anonymous reviewers and the Editor for their constructive comments and suggestions. The present study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Project No. 3100A0-116778 awarded to N.A), the Matthey-Wütrich Grant of the University of Neuchâtel awarded to N.R. and the Travel Grant of the Swiss Academy of Sciences SCNAT + awarded to A.E. N.A. is currently funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione fellowship (PZ00P3_126624).
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Revel, N., Alvarez, N., Gibernau, M. et al. Investigating the relationship between pollination strategies and the size-advantage model in zoophilous plants using the reproductive biology of Arum cylindraceum and other European Arum species as case studies. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 6, 35–44 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-011-9164-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-011-9164-1