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  • The Royal Society  (6)
  • 2010-2014  (3)
  • 2005-2009  (3)
  • 1
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    The conservation physiology of seed dispersal (2012)
    The Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2012-06-19
    Description: At a time when plant species are experiencing increasing challenges from climate change, land-use change, harvesting and invasive species, dispersal has become a very important aspect of plant conservation. Seed dispersal by animals is particularly important because some animals disperse seeds to suitable sites in a directed fashion. Our review has two aims: (i) to highlight the various ways plant dispersal by animals can be affected by current anthropogenic change and (ii) to show the important role of plant and (particularly) animal physiology in shaping seed–dispersal interactions. We argue that large-bodied seed dispersers may be particularly important for plant conservation because seed dispersal of large-seeded plants is often more specialized and because large-bodied animals are targeted by human exploitation and have smaller population sizes. We further argue that more specialized seed-dispersal systems on island ecosystems might be particularly at risk from climate change both owing to small population sizes involved but also owing to the likely thermal specialization, particularly on tropical islands. More generally, the inherent vulnerability of seed-dispersal mutualisms to disruption driven by environmental change (as well as their ubiquity) demands that we continue to improve our understanding of their conservation physiology.
    Print ISSN: 0962-8436
    Electronic ISSN: 1471-2970
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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  • 2
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    Fatal attraction: carnivorous plants roll out the red carpet to lure insects (2008)
    The Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2008-01-15
    Description: We provide the first experimental test of the hypothesis that the coloration of carnivorous plants can act as a signal to lure insects and thus enhance capture rates. An experimental approach was needed to separate effects of the visual appearance of plants from those of traits that may correlate with appearance and also affect capture rates. We compared insect capture rates of pitcher plants with artificially coloured red and green pitchers in a paired design, and found that plants with red pitchers captured significantly more flying insects. Thus, we present the first experimental evidence of visual signalling in carnivorous plants. Further, it has previously been suggested that carnivorous plants use contrasting stripes or UV marks on their pitchers to lure insects; our results emphasize that insect traps do not need to sport contrasting colours to be attractive; it might be sufficient to be different from the background.
    Print ISSN: 1744-9561
    Electronic ISSN: 1744-957X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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  • 3
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    Fenestration: a window of opportunity for carnivorous plants (2014)
    The Royal Society
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    Publication Date: 2014-04-01
    Description: A long-standing but controversial hypothesis assumes that carnivorous plants employ aggressive mimicry to increase their prey capture success. A possible mechanism is that pitcher plants use aggressive mimicry to deceive prey about the location of the pitcher's exit. Specifically, species from unrelated families sport fenestration, i.e. transparent windows on the upper surfaces of pitchers which might function to mimic the exit of the pitcher. This hypothesis has not been evaluated against alternative hypotheses predicting that fenestration functions to attract insects from afar. By manipulating fenestration, we show that it does not increase the number of Drosophila flies or of two ant species entering pitchers in Sarracenia minor nor their retention time or a pitcher's capture success. However, fenestration increased the number of Drosophila flies alighting on the pitcher compared with pitchers of the same plant without fenestration. We thus suggest that fenestration in S. minor is not an example of aggressive mimicry but rather functions in long-range attraction of prey. We highlight the need to evaluate aggressive mimicry relative to alternative concepts of plant–animal communication.
    Print ISSN: 1744-9561
    Electronic ISSN: 1744-957X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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  • 4
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    How to investigate a putative signal? Stick to the right method when assessing the response of a receiver (2007)
    The Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2007-01-30
    Print ISSN: 1744-9561
    Electronic ISSN: 1744-957X
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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  • 5
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    The evolution and loss of oil-offering flowers: new insights from dated phylogenies for angiosperms and bees (2010)
    The Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2010-02-12
    Description: The interactions between bees that depend on floral oil for their larvae and flowers that offer oil involve an intricate mix of obligate and facultative mutualisms. Using recent phylogenies, new data on oil-offering Cucurbitaceae, and molecular-dating, we ask when and how often oil-offering flowers and oil-foraging bees evolved, and how frequently these traits were lost in the cause of evolution. Local phylogenies and an angiosperm-wide tree show that oil flowers evolved at least 28 times and that floral oil was lost at least 36–40 times. The oldest oil flower systems evolved shortly after the K/T boundary independently in American Malpighiaceae, tropical African Cucurbitaceae and Laurasian Lysimachia (Myrsinaceae); the ages of the South African oil flower/oil bee systems are less clear. Youngest oil flower clades include Calceolaria (Calceolariaceae), Iridaceae, Krameria (Krameriaceae) and numerous Orchidaceae, many just a few million years old. In bees, oil foraging evolved minimally seven times and dates back to at least 56 Ma ( Ctenoplectra ) and 53 Ma ( Macropis ). The co-occurrence of older and younger oil-offering clades in three of the four geographical regions (but not the Holarctic) implies that oil-foraging bees acquired additional oil hosts over evolutionary time. Such niche-broadening probably started with exploratory visits to flowers resembling oil hosts in scent or colour, as suggested by several cases of Muellerian or Batesian mimicry involving oil flowers.
    Print ISSN: 0962-8436
    Electronic ISSN: 1471-2970
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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  • 6
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    Chromaticity in the UV/blue range facilitates the search for achromatically background-matching prey in birds (2008)
    The Royal Society
    Details
    Publication Date: 2008-11-10
    Description: A large variety of predatory species rely on their visual abilities to locate their prey. However, the search for prey may be hampered by prey camouflage. The most prominent example of concealing coloration is background-matching prey coloration characterized by a strong visual resemblance of prey to the background. Even though this principle of camouflage was recognized to efficiently work in predator avoidance a long time ago, the underlying mechanisms are not very well known. In this study, we assessed whether blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) use chromatic cues in the search for prey. We used two prey types that were achromatically identical but differed in chromatic properties in the UV/blue range and presented them on two achromatically identical backgrounds. The backgrounds had either the same chromatic properties as the prey items (matching combination) or differed in their chromatic properties (mismatching combination). Our results show that birds use chromatic cues in the search for mismatching prey, whereupon chromatic contrast leads to a ‘pop-out’ of the prey item from the background. When prey was presented on a matching background, search times were significantly higher. Interestingly, search for more chromatic prey on the matching background was easier than search for less chromatic prey on the matching background. Our results indicate that birds use both achromatic and chromatic cues when searching for prey, and that the combination of both cues might be helpful in the search task.
    Print ISSN: 0962-8436
    Electronic ISSN: 1471-2970
    Topics: Biology
    Published by The Royal Society
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