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Recurved Taraxacum phyllaries function as a floral defense: experimental evidence and its implication for Taraxacum evolutionary history

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Florivores directly decrease the reproductive success of plants by consuming pollen and seeds; thus, plants often have defense mechanisms against florivory. Here, we show that the recurved phyllaries of an agamospermous hybrid dandelion, Taraxacum japonicum × officinale, function as a physical barrier to slug florivory. We allowed Lehmannia valentiana, a European slug naturalized in Japan, to feed on eight pairs of the hybrid dandelion and T. japonicum, a Japanese species with erect phyllaries. Consequently, the slugs only damaged T. platycarpum flowers. The slugs either moved back from recurved phyllaries or spent more than twice as long on recurved than on erect phyllaries. When we removed the recurved phyllaries, the slugs stayed on hybrid and T. japonicum phyllaries for equal lengths of time. In addition to recurved outer phyllaries, the hybrid dandelion has erect inner phyllaries that are longer than those of T. japonicum, which effectively conceal the florets at night protecting them from slug florivory. Using the taxonomic literature, we have confirmed that recurved phyllaries evolved in many species in several parts of Europe, but are rare in East Asia. These findings suggest that European dandelions acquired recurved phyllaries as a defense mechanism under antagonistic coevolution with florivorous slugs, but this coevolution did not occur in East Asia.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Firouzeh Javadi for help in obtaining data on the flora of Iran and Chika Mitsuyuki for help with sampling the Japanese and hybrid dandelions. Thanks also to KC Hung and SF Chan for data analysis, ZF Tang for drawing Fig. 2, and our colleagues in the Laboratory of Ecological Science, Kyushu University for their helpful comments on our findings and constructive discussion throughout this study.

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  1. Graduate School of System Life Sciences, West 1-804, Kyushu University, Moto-oka 744, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Fu-Yu Wu & Tetsukazu Yahara

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, West 1-804, Kyushu University, Moto-oka 744, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Tetsukazu Yahara

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  1. Fu-Yu Wu
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Correspondence to Tetsukazu Yahara.

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Wu, FY., Yahara, T. Recurved Taraxacum phyllaries function as a floral defense: experimental evidence and its implication for Taraxacum evolutionary history. Ecol Res 32, 313–329 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1444-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1444-5

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