On Mutualists and Exploiters: Plant–insect Coevolution in Pollinating Seed–parasite Systems
✍ Scribed by RICHARD LAW; JUDITH L. BRONSTEIN; RÉGIS FERRIÈRE
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2001
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 365 KB
- Volume
- 212
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5193
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✦ Synopsis
We investigate the coevolution of time of #owering and time of pollinator emergence in an obligate association between a plant and an insect that both pollinates and parasitizes #owers. Numerical analysis shows that the system in general evolves towards a time of #owering di!erent from the time favoured by the abiotic environment. The equilibrium towards which the system evolves is a local "tness maximum (an ESS) with respect to mutational variation in #owering time but, for the insect, it can be a local "tness minimum at which selection on mutational variation in the time of insect emergence is disruptive. A consequence of evolutionary convergence to a "tness minimum is that pollinators having an earlier phenology can coexist with pollinators having a later phenology. Since late emerging insects are more likely to encounter and oviposit within previously pollinated #owers, their e!ect on the plant is more exploitative, leading them to function as cheaters within the system. Thus, in the long term, pollinators and exploiters are likely to be found in stable coexistence in pollinating seed}parasite systems.