| Abstract Detail
Biogeography Hamilton, Ashley [1], Wessinger, Carolyn [2]. Ecogeographic correlates of pollination syndrome divergence in Penstemon. Pollination shifts play a key role in the diversification and evolution of angiosperms, but the way in which pollination shifts facilitate isolation and thereby speciation is not well documented. It is hypothesized that hummingbird-pollinated flowers have evolved in either geographic or ecological isolation from insect-pollinated ancestors. However, there is support from a few studies suggesting that differences in pollinator community are impactful enough to account for the necessary ecological isolation for speciation. This, in turn, would lead to less pronounced differences in habitat between sister pairs with different pollinators than would be expected. Under this framework, transitions to different pollinators reduces competition with closely related species which facilitates the coexistence of closely related species in a similar ecogeographic space. We attempt to test what aspects of geographic and ecological space correlate with transitions from ancestral bee-pollination syndrome flowers to derived hummingbird-pollinated flowers in 30 sister species pairs in the Penstemon genus. To investigate geographic differences, we compare range sizes and range overlap of sisters. To investigate ecological differences, we determine niche differentiation and compare niche sizes between sisters. From this study, we hope to elucidate if and how the mode of isolation that accompanies transitions to hummingbird pollination is different from speciation without a pollination shift.
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1 - University of South Carolina, Biological Sciences, 715 Sumter St, Columbia , SC , 29208
2 - University Of South Carolina, Biological Sciences, 715 Sumter St, Columbia, SC, 29208, United States
Keywords:
Penstemon
pollination syndrome
biogeography
ecological niche .
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: BIOGI, Biogeography I
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Monday, July 19th, 2021
Time: 12:30 PM(EDT)
Number: BIOGI001
Abstract ID:114
Candidate for Awards:None |
