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Sexual isolation in two bee-pollinated Costus (Costaceae)

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Abstract

Examining reproductive isolating barriers is essential for understanding processes of speciation. Sexual isolation has been shown to contribute to speciation in many sympatric taxa; however, its role in parapatric taxa with reduced interspecific gene flow is poorly understood. I investigated the extent of sexual isolation in two closely related Neotropical understory species, Costus allenii and C. villosissimus, that occur in adjacent habitats within flight distance of their shared pollinators, euglossine bees. Pollination arrays were used to test whether individual pollinators travel between species, to estimate the proportion of hetero- and conspecific pollen deposited on the stigmas, and to examine the proportion of hybrid progeny. In comparison to C. allenii, C. villosissimus produces flowers with larger labella, longer stamen–labellum distances, and longer styles. Pollinators visited both species but preferred C. villosissimus. This preference caused pollinator isolation in C. villosissimus. In C. allenii, the frequency of heterospecific pollinator transitions was not less common than that of conspecific transitions, but floral mechanical isolation greatly reduced the likelihood of heterospecific pollen deposition. The contribution of gametic isolation was not strong in either species. Based on data for pollinator isolation, floral mechanical isolation, and gametic isolation, it appears that sexual isolation is weak in C. allenii, restricting heterospecific gene flow by 25 %, but moderate in C. villosissimus, where gene flow from C. allenii is reduced by 70 %. Further research will estimate the magnitude of other isolation barriers to determine the relative contribution of sexual isolation to total isolation in this parapatric species pair.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to D.W. Schemske for his advice, generosity, and support throughout all parts of this project. I also thank J. Conner, K. Gross, E. A. Herre, K. M. Kay, J. Lau, H. A. Lessios, J. M. Sobel, and two anonymous reviewers for useful comments and suggestions, E. Dittmar, L. Watt and C-Y Yeh for helpful editing, A. González and L. Jiménez for field assistance, S. Carpenter, R. Fuller, M. Hammond for greenhouse management, L. Petroff for developing AFLP markers, and K. Richardson for conducting AFLP. I gratefully acknowledge generous logistical and financial support from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Data were collected under an Especial permit SE/AP-6-07 and SE/AP-6-08 from Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente and unnumbered permit from Autoridad del Canal de Panamá. I also thank the Department of Plant Biology, Genomics Technology Support Facility, the Graduate School, and the College of Natural Sciences at Michigan State University for additional support for data collection and manuscript preparation.

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  1. Grace F. Chen

    Present address: Biology Department, State University of New York, College of Oneonta, Oneonta, NY, 13820, USA

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  1. Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Grace F. Chen

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Communicated by Scott Russell.

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Supplementary Data Resource 1. Supplementary methods section (DOC 41.5 kb)

Supplementary Data Resource 2. Video of pollinator visitation on C. allenii (MPG 11226 kb)

Supplementary Data Resource 3. Video of pollinator visitation on C. villosissimus (MPG 9234 kb)

497_2012_203_MOESM4_ESM.doc

Supplementary Data Resource 4. Tables on repeated G-tests of goodness-of-fit on floral mechanical isolation, gametic isolation, and the overall strength of sexual isolation (DOC 45.5 kb)

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Chen, G.F. Sexual isolation in two bee-pollinated Costus (Costaceae). Plant Reprod 26, 3–16 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-012-0203-6

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