Evolutionary convergence on hummingbird pollination in Neotropical Costus provides insight into the causes of pollinator shifts.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of hummingbird pollination is common across angiosperms throughout the Americas, presenting an opportunity to examine convergence in both traits and environments to better understand how complex phenotypes arise. Here we examine independent shifts from bee to hummingbird pollination in the Neotropical spiral gingers (Costus) and address common explanations for the prevalence of transitions from bee to hummingbird pollination. We use floral traits of species with observed pollinators to predict pollinators of unobserved species and reconstruct ancestral pollination states on a well-resolved phylogeny. We examine whether independent transitions evolve towards the same phenotypic optimum and whether shifts to hummingbird pollination correlate with elevation or climate. Traits pr

SUBMITTER: Kay KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9826479 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature