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Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus

Junpeng Mu, Youhong Peng, Xinqiang Xi, Xinwei Wu, John Griffin Orcid Logo, Karl J. Niklas, Shucun Sun

Ecology, Volume: 95, Issue: 11, Pages: 3161 - 3172

Swansea University Author: John Griffin Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1890/13-2055.1

Abstract

Plants have evolved costly flowering traits, including the provisioning of rich nectar, to attract and reward their pollinators. Beekeeping (apiculture) locally increases densities of honey bees, which might drive economization of pollinator-attracting traits, but the potential evolutionary conseque...

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Published in: Ecology
ISSN: 0012-9658
Published: Wiley 2014
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23626
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spelling 2020-11-12T13:52:22.3138226 v2 23626 2015-10-08 Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus 9814fbffa76dd9c9a207166354cd0b2f 0000-0003-3295-6480 John Griffin John Griffin true false 2015-10-08 SBI Plants have evolved costly flowering traits, including the provisioning of rich nectar, to attract and reward their pollinators. Beekeeping (apiculture) locally increases densities of honey bees, which might drive economization of pollinator-attracting traits, but the potential evolutionary consequences of beekeeping on plant–pollinator interactions remain unknown. Here, we present evidence suggesting that intensive apiculture has driven the rapid evolution of plant traits in the alpine lotus (Saussurea nigrescens) on the Tibetan Plateau by allowing reduced nectar volume provisioning without compromising pollination success. This conclusion is supported by measurements of reproductive and vegetative traits, including nectar, at sites of varying distance from apiaries that have housed introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera) since the early 1980s. Nectar volume was more than 60% lower at sites close to apiaries than at more distant sites, while nectar concentration remained consistent. When seedlings from field sites were grown under common garden conditions, trends in nectar volume identical to those in the field were observed, indicating that recently evolved genetic differences likely underlie patterns observed in the field. The adaptive advantage of reduced nectar volume under high pollinator density was clear in both the field and in the common garden. Specifically, plants from sites close to apiaries were taller, had more aboveground biomass, and produced more flowers and seeds compared to those at distant sites, which is consistent with the tradeoffs between nectar volume per flower and flower number per inflorescence within sites. The evolution of reduced nectar volume suggested by our results shows that the widespread practice of beekeeping might be a strong selective agent acting on wild plant populations and illustrates that human activities may indirectly affect evolution by changing critical species interactions. Journal Article Ecology 95 11 3161 3172 Wiley 0012-9658 evolution, pollination, species interaction, mutualism 1 11 2014 2014-11-01 10.1890/13-2055.1 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University 2020-11-12T13:52:22.3138226 2015-10-08T19:17:16.5751981 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Junpeng Mu 1 Youhong Peng 2 Xinqiang Xi 3 Xinwei Wu 4 John Griffin 0000-0003-3295-6480 5 Karl J. Niklas 6 Shucun Sun 7
title Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
spellingShingle Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
John Griffin
title_short Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
title_full Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
title_fullStr Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
title_full_unstemmed Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
title_sort Domesticated honey bees evolutionarily reduce flower nectar volume in a Tibetan lotus
author_id_str_mv 9814fbffa76dd9c9a207166354cd0b2f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 9814fbffa76dd9c9a207166354cd0b2f_***_John Griffin
author John Griffin
author2 Junpeng Mu
Youhong Peng
Xinqiang Xi
Xinwei Wu
John Griffin
Karl J. Niklas
Shucun Sun
format Journal article
container_title Ecology
container_volume 95
container_issue 11
container_start_page 3161
publishDate 2014
institution Swansea University
issn 0012-9658
doi_str_mv 10.1890/13-2055.1
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Plants have evolved costly flowering traits, including the provisioning of rich nectar, to attract and reward their pollinators. Beekeeping (apiculture) locally increases densities of honey bees, which might drive economization of pollinator-attracting traits, but the potential evolutionary consequences of beekeeping on plant–pollinator interactions remain unknown. Here, we present evidence suggesting that intensive apiculture has driven the rapid evolution of plant traits in the alpine lotus (Saussurea nigrescens) on the Tibetan Plateau by allowing reduced nectar volume provisioning without compromising pollination success. This conclusion is supported by measurements of reproductive and vegetative traits, including nectar, at sites of varying distance from apiaries that have housed introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera) since the early 1980s. Nectar volume was more than 60% lower at sites close to apiaries than at more distant sites, while nectar concentration remained consistent. When seedlings from field sites were grown under common garden conditions, trends in nectar volume identical to those in the field were observed, indicating that recently evolved genetic differences likely underlie patterns observed in the field. The adaptive advantage of reduced nectar volume under high pollinator density was clear in both the field and in the common garden. Specifically, plants from sites close to apiaries were taller, had more aboveground biomass, and produced more flowers and seeds compared to those at distant sites, which is consistent with the tradeoffs between nectar volume per flower and flower number per inflorescence within sites. The evolution of reduced nectar volume suggested by our results shows that the widespread practice of beekeeping might be a strong selective agent acting on wild plant populations and illustrates that human activities may indirectly affect evolution by changing critical species interactions.
published_date 2014-11-01T03:27:54Z
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score 11.037581

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