Article
Plant Sciences
S. J. Castro, A. B. Castro, N. M. Araujo, V. H. R. Abreu, M. L. Oliveira, R. F. Fadini
Summary: This study reveals the floral biology and visitors of Psittacanthus eucalyptifolius in an Amazonian savanna, Brazil, and compares its reproductive performance with other Psittacanthus species. The results indicate that bees can be as effective as birds in pollinating this species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Kathleen M. Kay, Dena L. Grossenbacher
Summary: This study examines the independent shifts from bee to hummingbird pollination in the Neotropical spiral gingers (Costus). The results reveal highly convergent and directional evolution, involving a set of traits that differ from other plants with similar transitions. Contrary to common explanations, the shifts are not correlated with elevation or climate.
Article
Plant Sciences
Priscila Tunes, Stefan Doetterl, Elza Guimaraes
Summary: This study investigated the impact of florivores on a Neotropical hummingbird pollination system. The results showed that florivores do not alter the floral color and scent required for hummingbird pollination, but they do change the corolla outline, which has no effect on pollination.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Ornithology
Rodrigo Medel, Manuel Lopez-Aliste, Francisco E. Fonturbel
Summary: Hummingbird species have closely evolved with the plants they feed on in Chile. The review aims to organize information on the flowering plants visited by hummingbirds, present basic plant-hummingbird pollination network metrics, and identify areas for further research. Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change pose threats to Chilean hummingbirds and disrupt their interactions with plants.
Review
Plant Sciences
Carolyn A. Wessinger
Summary: This paper reviews the genetic features of adaptation to hummingbird-adapted flowers and their contribution to evolutionary flexibility, including large-effect substitutions, large mutational targets for adaptation, adaptive introgression, and concentrated architecture.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jean M. Mondo, Paterne A. Agre, Alex Edemodu, Robert Asiedu, Malachy O. Akoroda, Asrat Asfaw
Summary: This study assessed the cross-compatibility of yam and analyzed the factors influencing pollination success to improve hybridization practices in yam breeding. The results showed that interspecific crossing combinations had lower crossability rates and seed production efficiency compared to intraspecific combinations. Weather conditions and pollinator's skills were the main contributors to the low success rate in intraspecific crosses, while genetic distance and heterozygosity played a minor role. The study also found that interspecific barriers were both pre-zygotic and post-zygotic, resulting from evolutionary divergence among yam species.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Jay J. Falk, Dustin R. Rubenstein, Alejandro Rico-Guevara, Michael S. Webster
Summary: The research suggests that in white-necked jacobins, the diversity of female morphs may be maintained as androchrome females increase access to food resources through mimicry of more aggressive males. The mimicry hypothesis provides a theoretical pathway for the maintenance of polymorphism through frequency-dependent selection between different morphs.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
C. Lara, L. Xicohtencatl-Lara, J. F. Ornelas
Summary: This study investigated the variation in reproductive traits of Psittacanthus calyculatus mistletoes on two different host tree species and at three different localities. The results showed differences in the quantity and quality of mistletoe production among different localities, but there was no significant difference in fruit formation probability, pollen viability, and other indicators among different hosts or localities. The observed differences in reproductive effort and success associated with host species or locality are proposed to be plastic or adaptive responses to varying conditions.
Article
Ecology
Ugo M. Diniz, Nina L. S. Fischer, Ludmilla M. S. Aguiar
Summary: The Neotropical genus Psittacanthus, which consists mostly of ornithophilous mistletoes, including Psittacanthus robustus, attracts both birds and bats with its bright yellow flowers and copious nectar secretion. Bat captures and pollen sampling in the Cerrado area of Brazil revealed that nine phyllostomid bat species visited P. robustus, with the species accounting for a significant portion of the bats' floral resources. The flowers actively produced nectar at night, suggesting that P. robustus also serves as a resource for flower-visiting bats. However, the contribution of nocturnal animals to plant fitness was found to be low and secondary.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Vivian Akemi Nakamura, Camila Silveira Souza, Andrea Cardoso Araujo
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the interactions between hummingbirds and flowers in green areas in Campo Grande, Brazil. A total of 63 interactions between six hummingbirds and 24 plant species were recorded. Fabaceae and Bignoniaceae were the most representative families. 80% of the visited species were native and common in urban ornamentation. This information can contribute to our understanding of the structure and functioning of anthropically modified interactive communities.
Article
Plant Sciences
Ricardo Kriebel, Bryan T. Drew, Regine Classen-Bockhoff, Kenneth J. Sytsma
Summary: Salvia (Lamiaceae) is a widely distributed genus in Asia with approximately 1000 species. The species within Salvia employ a staminal lever mechanism, which has contributed to the diversification within the genus. However, the role and evolution of ventral outgrowths or connective teeth associated with this mechanism remain unclear. In this study, we examined the function of these teeth in pollination and provided an evolutionary scenario for their development. Our findings suggest that these teeth serve as pressure points and facilitate lever movement during pollination.
Article
Ecology
Samantha Maite de los Santos-Gomez, Dulce Maria Figueroa-Castro, Carlos Castaneda-Posadas
Summary: Pollination syndromes have been shown to predict the groups of pollinators for plant species such as bees, birds, and bats. However, in a study involving nine plant species with varying life cycles, it was found that while six species were visited by effective pollinators, only four were effectively pollinated by the predicted primary or secondary pollinators. Dahlia coccinea and Tigridia pavonia were the only species where the predicted pollinator group was both effective and associated with floral traits. The predictability of pollination syndromes was not observed for annual and perennial plant species.
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Ajay Kumar, Rahul Dev Gautam, Ravi Kumar, Ramesh Chauhan, Manish Kumar, Satbeer Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Sanatsujat Singh, Ashok Kumar
Summary: Palmarosa is an economically crucial aromatic grass species with high demand for its essential oil. Open-pollination conditions are more suitable for good seed set while gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis reveals variations in metabolite content. Geraniol content increases with maturity while neryl acetate content is highest at immature stages.
INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kathleen M. Kay, Yann Surget-Groba
Summary: Divergence in floral traits can lead to reproductive isolation among plant lineages and studying the genetics of floral traits offers insights into speciation. The genetic architecture of floral traits can facilitate or constrain correlated evolution of these traits through shared genes. The presence of multiple QTL with small effects, colocalization, and alignment of effects suggest adaptive pleiotropy or linkage may have helped stabilize divergent phenotypes.
Article
Ecology
Sabrina Aparecida Lopes, Pedro Joaquim Bergamo, Steffani Najara Pinho Queiroz, Jeff Ollerton, Thiago Santos, Andre Rodrigo Rech
Summary: The study found seasonality in HPD, with greater diversity and frequency of heterospecific pollen on stigmas of species flowering in the dry season compared to the rainy season. Stigmas of ecologically generalized species had more heterospecific pollen, while the relationship for ecologically specialized species depended on floral phenotype.
Article
Zoology
Ubaldo Marquez-Luna, Carlos Lara, Pablo Corcuera, Pedro Luis Valverde
Article
Zoology
Ubaldo Marquez-Luna, Carlos Lara, Pablo Corcuera, Pedro Luis Valverde
Article
Ecology
Carlos Lara, Hugo Antonio Curiel-Duran, Citlalli Castillo-Guevara
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sergio Diaz Infante, Carlos Lara, Maria del Coro Arizmendi
Article
Entomology
Carlos Lara, Emilia Martinez-Bolanos, Karla Lopez-Vazquez, Cecilia Diaz-Castelazo, Citlalli Castillo-Guevara, Mariana Cuautle
ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Biology
Jesper Sonne, Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni, Pietro K. Maruyama, Andrea C. Araujo, Edgar Chavez-Gonzalez, Aline G. Coelho, Peter A. Cotton, Oscar H. Marin-Gomez, Carlos Lara, Liliana R. Lasprilla, Caio G. Machado, Maria A. Maglianesi, Tiago S. Malucelli, Ana M. Martin Gonzalez, Genilda M. Oliveira, Paulo E. Oliveira, Raul Ortiz-Pulido, Marcia A. Rocca, Licleia C. Rodrigues, Ivan Sazima, Benno Simmons, Boris Tinoco, Isabela G. Varassin, Marcelo F. Vasconcelos, Bob O'Hara, Matthias Schleuning, Carsten Rahbek, Marlies Sazima, Bo Dalsgaard
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Juliana Cardona, Carlos Lara, Juan Francisco Ornelas
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ian MacGregor-Fors, Juan F. Escobar-Ibanez, Jorge E. Schondube, Iriana Zuria, Ruben Ortega-Alvarez, J. Roberto Sosa-Lopez, Irene Ruvalcaba-Ortega, R. Carlos Almazan-Nunez, Moises Arellano-Delgado, Stefan L. Arriaga-Weiss, Alejandra Calvo, Leonardo Chapa-Vargas, Perla X. Silvestre Lara, Juan H. Garcia-Chavez, Osvel Hinojosa, Juan M. Koller-Gonzalez, Carlos Lara, Samuel Lopez de Aquino, Dulce Lopez-Santillan, Elisa Maya-Elizarraras, Juan P. Medina, Jose de Jesus Moreno Navarro, Luis E. Murillo Garcia, Landy Orozco, Ruben Pineda-Lopez, Erick R. Rodriguez-Ruiz, Jose R. Tinajero Hernandez, Ligia B. Torres Aban, Jorge H. Vega-Rivera
Summary: This study focused on urban bird diversity in Mexico, with a special emphasis on the role of urban greenspaces and heavily-built sites. Urban greenspaces were found to have higher species richness compared to heavily-built sites, and there were clear differences in the functional groups of birds in these two urban scenarios. The relationships between urban bird diversity and cities' biogeographic region, size, elevation, and annual rainfall were also explored.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Brenda Juarez-Juarez, Mariana Cuautle, Citlalli Castillo-Guevara, Karla Lopez-Vazquez, Maria Gomez-Ortigoza, Maria Gomez-Lazaga, Cecilia Diaz-Castelazo, Carlos Lara, Gibran R. Perez-Toledo, Miguel Reyes
Article
Ecology
Bo Dalsgaard, Pietro Kiyoshi Maruyama, Jesper Sonne, Katrine Hansen, Thais B. Zanata, Stefan Abrahamczyk, Ruben Alarcon, Andrea C. Araujo, Francielle P. Araujo, Silvana Buzato, Edgar Chavez-Gonzalez, Aline G. Coelho, Peter A. Cotton, Roman Diaz-Valenzuela, Maria F. Dufke, Paula L. Enriquez, Manoel Martins Dias Filho, Erich Fischer, Glauco Kohler, Carlos Lara, Flor Maria G. Las-Casas, Liliana Rosero Lasprilla, Adriana O. Machado, Caio G. Machado, Maria A. Maglianesi, Tiago S. Malucelli, Oscar H. Marin-Gomez, Vanessa Martinez-Garcia, Severino Mendes de Azevedo-Junior, Edvaldo Nunes da Silva Neto, Paulo E. Oliveira, Juan Francisco Ornelas, Raul Ortiz-Pulido, Ruth Partida-Lara, Blanca Itzel Patino-Gonzalez, Steffani Najara de Pinho Queiroz, Monica B. Ramirez-Burbano, Andre Rodrigo Rech, Marcia A. Rocca, Licleia C. Rodrigues, Ana M. Rui, Ivan Sazima, Marlies Sazima, Benno I. Simmons, Boris A. Tinoco, Isabela G. Varassin, Marcelo F. Vasconcelos, Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni, Stella Watts, Jonathan D. Kennedy, Carsten Rahbek, Matthias Schleuning, Ana M. Martin Gonzalez
Summary: The study investigated the impact of biogeography and evolutionary history on the role of functional traits in species interactions. Results showed that hummingbird clades dominated by long-billed species tend to visit longer flowers and show higher resource specialization. Additionally, bill length correlated with floral corolla length across regions and most clades, but did not strongly predict resource specialization.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jaume Izquierdo-Palma, Maria del Coro Arizmendi, Carlos Lara, Juan Francisco Ornelas
Summary: The plant-pollinator networks exhibit modular structures, where plants belonging to different specialized modules optimize pollination function by integrating floral traits. However, biological processes derived from both trait matching and forbidden links may play a more important role in tropical plant-hummingbird systems. More research with larger datasets is needed to determine whether phenotypic floral integration increases with morphological specialization in plant-hummingbird networks.
Article
Plant Sciences
C. Lara, L. Xicohtencatl-Lara, J. F. Ornelas
Summary: This study investigated the variation in reproductive traits of Psittacanthus calyculatus mistletoes on two different host tree species and at three different localities. The results showed differences in the quantity and quality of mistletoe production among different localities, but there was no significant difference in fruit formation probability, pollen viability, and other indicators among different hosts or localities. The observed differences in reproductive effort and success associated with host species or locality are proposed to be plastic or adaptive responses to varying conditions.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Jesus Zuniga-Palacios, Iriana Zuria, Ignacio Castellanos, Carlos Lara, Gerardo Sanchez-Rojas
Summary: Urban areas can serve as either safe habitats or ecological traps for biodiversity, with current studies suggesting they act more as safe sites, especially for species that can adapt well to urban environments. However, there is high heterogeneity among studies, and more research is needed on a wider range of species and regions to make generalizations about the role of urban areas in biodiversity conservation.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Deysi Munoz-Galicia, Citlalli Castillo-Guevara, Carlos Lara
Summary: The common green-eyed white butterflies have a strong innate preference for red flowers and demonstrate the ability to associate colors with rewards. They are able to learn new rewarded colors quickly and proficiently, especially if the spectral reflectance value of the new color is similar to the previously rewarded color.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Sergio Diaz Infante, Carlos Lara, Maria del Coro Arizmendi
TROPICAL CONSERVATION SCIENCE
(2020)