The first flowering plants originated more than 140 million years ago in the early Cretaceous . They are the most diverse industrial plant group on Earth with more than 300,000 species . In a new study in Communications Biology , evolutionary biologists around Agnes Dellinger and Jürg Schönenberger from the University of Vienna have analysed 3 - dimensional models of flowers and found that flower shapes can evolve in a modular style in adaptation to distinct pollinator .
Flower of the bee - pollinate metal money Meriania hernandoi from the Ecuadorian swarm timberland ( Credit : Agnes Dellinger )
anthesis plants are characterized by an astonishing variety of blossom of different shapes and sizes . This diversity has arisen in adaptation to selection imposed by different pollinator including among others bees , flies , butterflies , hummingbirds , at-bat or rodents . Although several studies have documented that pollinators can visit inviolable selection pressures on flowers , our understanding of how flowers broaden remains fragmental . For good example , does the total bloom conform to a pollinator , or do only some flower parts develop to fit a pollinator while other heyday parts may remain unchanged ?
Flower of a passerine - cross-pollinate species of the genus Axinaea ( Credit : Agnes Dellinger )
In a recent study , scientists around Agnes Dellinger from the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research from the University of Vienna investigated blossom of 30 metal money of a tropic works group ( Merianieae ) from the Andes . “ Each of these industrial plant species has adapt to pollination by either bee , raspberry , bat or rodent ” , says Dellinger . Using High - Resolution X - shaft of light computed imaging , the inquiry team produced 3-D - models of these flowers and used geometrical - morphometric methods to analyze differences in flower soma among specie with different pollinator .
Flower of the hummingbird- and bat - pollinate species Meriania radula from the Ecuadorian páramo ( quotation : Agnes Dellinger )
The researchers could show that efflorescence shapes have germinate in adaptation to the distinct pollinators , but that flower form evolution was not homogeneous across the flush . In particular , the showy sterile organs of flowers ( petal ) adapted to the dissimilar pollinators more apace than the rest of the flower : the procreative organ have evolved more tardily . “ This discipline is among the first to analyse the full 3 - dimensional flush shape , and it will be exciting to see whether like evolutionary flowered modularity subsist in other plant groups ” , reason Dellinger .
3D - example of a bloom of the passeriform bird - pollinated species Axinaea costaricensis from the Costa Rican montane rainfall woodland ( Credit : Agnes Dellinger )
Source : Universität Wien
