The evolution of flower-pollinator trait matching, and why do some alpine gingers appear to be mismatched?

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Morphological matching between flower and pollinator traits has been documented in diverse plant lineages. Indeed, the matching of corolla tube length and pollinator tongue length has been cited repeatedly as a classic case of coevolution. However, there are many possible evolutionary routes to trait matching. Our aim here is both to review the evolutionary mechanisms of plant-pollinator trait matching and to investigate a specific case of trait matching/mismatching in a genus of alpine gingers.

Methods

Roscoea gingers with long corolla tubes in the western Himalayas have pollinators with correspondingly long tongues, but the match between corolla tube and pollinator tongue lengths is not seen in the eastern Himalayas. Six floral traits were measured, inc

SUBMITTER: Wang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10809048 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature