HON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Hawaiian Lobelioids, Coevolution, Natural Experiment
Document Summary
The hawaiian islands are a natural experiment. Patterns of flower visitation and nectar feeding study. Tested on hawaiian lobeliads (long, curved, and tubular) and clermontia fauriei. Clermontia fauriei w/ low concentrations of nectar are pollinated by birds. Hypothesis: lobeliads are pollinated by native birds (honeycreepers & honeyeaters), with which they have a coevolved, mutualistic relationship. Hawaiian honeycreepers: extreme divergence, but many nectarivorous. Prediction: honeycreepers pollinate plants, but non-native birds take nectar w/o pollinating. Cyanea leptostegia were mostly visited by white-eye, but also visited by amakihi. Clermontia fauriei were mostly visited by amakihi, but also visited by i"iwi and white-eye. Immature fruits (not the flowers themselves) were parasitized by native beetles and moths. Interactions among lobeliads and birds are species specific. Not all interactions btwn lobeliads and honeycreepers are mutualistic.