TITLE:
Geographic Flower Trait Variation of Aquilegia buergeriana Sieb. et Zucc. var. buergeriana on Mt. Norikura and the Utsukushigahara Highland, Japan
AUTHORS:
Mitsuru Hattori, Yusuke Nagano, Takao Itino
KEYWORDS:
Bumblebee, Flower Visitor Composition, Plant-Pollinator Interaction, Ranunculaceae
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.5 No.18,
August
18,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Many studies have argued the importance of the flower-pollinator size
matching for flower trait diversification. However, non-pollinator agents may
also influence flower traits. In this study, we investigated the altitudinal
variation of flower size (spur length, stamen length, petal blade length,
corolla diameter, and sepal length) and flower visitors of Aquilegia buergeriana var. buergeriana (long-spurred columbine) in central Japan. Although this species was primarily
visited by Bombus consobrinus, which has an unvarying mouthpart
length, flower sizes varied greatly among populations with no correlation with
altitude. These results suggest that non-pollinator and non-meteorological
agents, directly and/or indirectly, impose selection pressure on flower size in A. buergeriana.