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Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds

We used a colour-space model of avian vision to assess whether a distinctive bird pollination syndrome exists for floral colour among Australian angiosperms. We also used a novel phylogenetically based method to assess whether such a syndrome represents a significant degree of convergent evolution....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Burd, Martin, Stayton, C. Tristan, Shrestha, Mani, Dyer, Adrian G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3953836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24573847
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2862
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author Burd, Martin
Stayton, C. Tristan
Shrestha, Mani
Dyer, Adrian G.
author_facet Burd, Martin
Stayton, C. Tristan
Shrestha, Mani
Dyer, Adrian G.
author_sort Burd, Martin
collection PubMed
description We used a colour-space model of avian vision to assess whether a distinctive bird pollination syndrome exists for floral colour among Australian angiosperms. We also used a novel phylogenetically based method to assess whether such a syndrome represents a significant degree of convergent evolution. About half of the 80 species in our sample that attract nectarivorous birds had floral colours in a small, isolated region of colour space characterized by an emphasis on long-wavelength reflection. The distinctiveness of this ‘red arm’ region was much greater when colours were modelled for violet-sensitive (VS) avian vision than for the ultraviolet-sensitive visual system. Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) are the dominant avian nectarivores in Australia and have VS vision. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest that 31 lineages evolved into the red arm region, whereas simulations indicate that an average of five or six lineages and a maximum of 22 are likely to have entered in the absence of selection. Thus, significant evolutionary convergence on a distinctive floral colour syndrome for bird pollination has occurred in Australia, although only a subset of bird-pollinated taxa belongs to this syndrome. The visual system of honeyeaters has been the apparent driver of this convergence.
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spelling pubmed-39538362014-04-22 Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds Burd, Martin Stayton, C. Tristan Shrestha, Mani Dyer, Adrian G. Proc Biol Sci Research Articles We used a colour-space model of avian vision to assess whether a distinctive bird pollination syndrome exists for floral colour among Australian angiosperms. We also used a novel phylogenetically based method to assess whether such a syndrome represents a significant degree of convergent evolution. About half of the 80 species in our sample that attract nectarivorous birds had floral colours in a small, isolated region of colour space characterized by an emphasis on long-wavelength reflection. The distinctiveness of this ‘red arm’ region was much greater when colours were modelled for violet-sensitive (VS) avian vision than for the ultraviolet-sensitive visual system. Honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) are the dominant avian nectarivores in Australia and have VS vision. Ancestral state reconstructions suggest that 31 lineages evolved into the red arm region, whereas simulations indicate that an average of five or six lineages and a maximum of 22 are likely to have entered in the absence of selection. Thus, significant evolutionary convergence on a distinctive floral colour syndrome for bird pollination has occurred in Australia, although only a subset of bird-pollinated taxa belongs to this syndrome. The visual system of honeyeaters has been the apparent driver of this convergence. The Royal Society 2014-04-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3953836/ /pubmed/24573847 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2862 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ © 2014 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Burd, Martin
Stayton, C. Tristan
Shrestha, Mani
Dyer, Adrian G.
Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title_full Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title_fullStr Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title_full_unstemmed Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title_short Distinctive convergence in Australian floral colours seen through the eyes of Australian birds
title_sort distinctive convergence in australian floral colours seen through the eyes of australian birds
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3953836/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24573847
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2862
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