title: Evolution of pollination niches and floral divergence in the generalist plant Erysimum mediohispanicum.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  How generalist plants diverge in response to pollinator selection without becoming specialized is still unknown. This study explores this question, focusing on the evolution of the pollination system in the pollination generalist Erysimum mediohispanicum (Brassicaceae).
  
  
  METHODS
  Pollinator assemblages were surveyed from 2001 to 2010 in 48 geo-referenced populations covering the entire geographic distribution of E. mediohispanicum. Bipartite modularity, a complex network tool, was used to find the pollination niche of each population. Evolution of the pollination niches and the correlated evolution of floral traits and pollination niches were explored using within-species comparative analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Despite being generalists, the E. mediohispanicum populations studied can be classified into five pollination niches. The boundaries between niches were not sharp, the niches differing among them in the relative frequencies of the floral visitor functional groups. The absence of spatial autocorrelation and phylogenetic signal indicates that the niches were distributed in a phylogeographic mosaic. The ancestral E. mediohispanicum populations presumably belonged to the niche defined by a high number of beetle and ant visits. A correlated evolution was found between pollination niches and some floral traits, suggesting the existence of generalist pollination ecotypes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is conjectured that the geographic variation in pollination niches has contributed to the observed floral divergence in E. mediohispanicum. The process mediating this floral divergence presumably has been adaptive wandering, but the adaptation to the local pollinator faunas has been not universal. The outcome is a landscape where a few populations locally adapted to their pollination environment (generalist pollination ecotypes) coexist with many populations where this local adaptation has failed and where the plant phenotype is not primarily shaped by pollinators.
authors: Departamento de Ecología.
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Gómez
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Muñoz-Pajares
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Abdelaziz
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Lorite
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Perfectti
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D032601:Erysimum / Q000502:physiology*; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology*; D005843:Geography; D008390:Markov Chains; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011336:Probability; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D013030:Spain
keywords: Adaptive wandering; Brassicaceae; Erysimum mediohispanicum; floral divergence; generalist pollination ecotype; pollination niches; speciation
references: Oecologia. 1978 Jan;35(2):133-140
references: 28309727
references: Trends Ecol Evol. 2013 Jan;28(1):30-7
references: 22951227
references: Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 Sep;76(3 Pt 2):036102
references: 17930301
references: Evolution. 2011 May;65(5):1457-73
references: 21521195
references: Evolution. 2008 Apr;62(4):793-806
references: 18208567
references: Evolution. 2001 Oct;55(10):1963-71
references: 11761057
references: Ecol Lett. 2007 Dec;10(12):1115-23
references: 17850335
references: Am J Bot. 2006 Jul;93(7):1029-38
references: 21642168
references: Oecologia. 2007 Mar;151(3):473-85
references: 17146683
references: Evolution. 2012 Aug;66(8):2614-21
references: 22834757
references: Evolution. 2008 Jul;62(7):1712-37
references: 18410536
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Feb 12;365(1539):499-516
references: 20047876
references: Mol Ecol. 2003 Mar;12(3):753-64
references: 12675830
references: Evolution. 1993 Oct;47(5):1480-1505
references: 28564906
references: Am J Bot. 1998 Mar;85(3):402
references: 21684924
references: Ann Bot. 2008 Jun;101(9):1413-20
references: 18424472
references: New Phytol. 2009 Aug;183(3):530-545
references: 19552694
references: Ann Bot. 2006 Aug;98(2):317-34
references: 16790463
references: Nature. 2005 Feb 24;433(7028):895-900
references: 15729348
references: Am Nat. 2006 Jan;167(1):67-80
references: 16475100
references: Ann Bot. 2014 Jan;113(2):301-15
references: 24071499
references: Oecologia. 2012 Oct;170(2):421-31
references: 22492167
references: Oecologia. 2007 Sep;153(3):597-605
references: 17576602
references: Ecology. 2012 Jul;93(7):1581-92
references: 22919905
references: Ann Bot. 2011 Sep;108(4):749-63
references: 21724655
references: Evolution. 2013 Mar;67(3):828-40
references: 23461331
references: J Evol Biol. 2010 Mar;23(3):494-508
references: 20070460
references: Am J Bot. 2011 Mar;98(3):528-38
references: 21613144
references: J Evol Biol. 2010 Dec;23(12):2529-39
references: 20964782
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011 May 12;366(1569):1410-24
references: 21444315
references: Ann Bot. 2008 Apr;101(5):641-50
references: 18272528
references: Ecol Lett. 2009 Jul;12(7):672-82
references: 19453614
references: Nature. 2007 Jun 7;447(7145):706-9
references: 17554306
references: Evolution. 2003 Dec;57(12):2742-52
references: 14761053
references: Br Foreign Med Chir Rev. 1862 Oct;30(60):312-318
references: 30163543
references: Evolution. 2010 Apr 1;64(4):960-72
references: 19891625
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Oct 7;275(1648):2241-9
references: 18544510
references: Oecologia. 2005 Jan;142(1):28-37
references: 15338417
references: Ecol Lett. 2008 Oct;11(10):995-1003
references: 18673385
references: Am Nat. 2003 Aug;162(2):242-56
references: 12858267
references: Ann Bot. 2013 Feb;111(2):317-28
references: 23223205
references: Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2004 Nov;70(5 Pt 2):056131
references: 15600716
references: New Phytol. 2012 Nov;196(3):681-694
references: 22943495
references: Am Nat. 2012 Feb;179(2):145-56
references: 22218305
references: Mol Ecol. 2012 Jul;21(14):3385-90
references: 22607262
references: Bioinformatics. 2004 Jan 22;20(2):289-90
references: 14734327
references: Am J Bot. 2007 Feb;94(2):203-9
references: 21642222