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. 2011 Sep;191(4):1128-1140.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03762.x. Epub 2011 May 17.

Transition from wind pollination to insect pollination in sedges: experimental evidence and functional traits

Peter D Wragg  1   2 , Steven D Johnson  1
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Free article

Transition from wind pollination to insect pollination in sedges: experimental evidence and functional traits

Peter D Wragg et al. New Phytol. 2011 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Transitions from wind pollination to insect pollination were pivotal to the radiation of land plants, yet only a handful are known and the trait shifts required are poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that a transition to insect pollination took place in the ancestrally wind-pollinated sedges (Cyperaceae) and that floral traits modified during this transition have functional significance. We paired putatively insect-pollinated Cyperus obtusiflorus and Cyperus sphaerocephalus with related, co-flowering, co-occurring wind-pollinated species, and compared pairs in terms of pollination mode and functional roles of floral traits. Experimentally excluding insects reduced seed set by 56-89% in putatively insect-pollinated species but not in intermingled wind-pollinated species. The pollen of putatively insect-pollinated species was less motile in a wind tunnel than that of wind-pollinated species. Bees, beetles and flies preferred inflorescences, and color-matched white or yellow models, of putatively insect-pollinated species over inflorescences, or color-matched brown models, of wind-pollinated species. Floral scents of putatively insect-pollinated species were chemically consistent with those of other insect-pollinated plants, and attracted pollinators; wind-pollinated species were unscented. These results show that a transition from wind pollination to insect pollination occurred in sedges and shed new light on the function of traits involved in this important transition.

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