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Phenotypic plasticity of floral traits and pollination adaption in an alpine plant Pedicularis siphonantha D. Don when transplanted from higher to lower elevation in Eastern Himalaya

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Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity and/or pollinator-mediated selection may be responsible for the changes in floral traits of plants when they are forced to live in new conditions. Although the two events could be independent, we hypothesized that phenotypic plasticity in floral traits might help to coordinate plant-pollinator interactions and enhance plant reproductive success in changing habitats. To test this hypothesis, we investigated floral traits and pollination on three natural populations of a lousewort (Pedicularis siphonantha) ranging at different elevations, as well as two downward transplanted populations in Shangeri-La County and Deqin County, northwest Yunnan, China. The results indicated that floral traits, i.e. phenology, longevity, display size, corolla tube length and pollen production differed significantly among populations. Moreover, or the two transplanted populations, floral traits diverged from their original populations, but converged to their host populations. Although the phenotypic plasticity in floral traits might be a rapid response to abiotic factor such as warmer environment, the changes in floral traits were found to be well adapted to pollination environment of the host population. Compared with plants of their original habitats in higher elevation, the transplanted individuals advanced flowering time, shortened flower longevity, reduced floral display size and pollen production, received higher visiting frequency and yielded more seeds. These findings suggested that phenotypic plasticity of floral traits might help plants adjust their resource allocation strategy between preand post-pollination stages in response to harsh or temperate conditions, which might correspondingly meet a pollinator-poor or hyphen rich environment. This would be beneficial for the widely-distributed species to adapt to various environmental changes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to JIN Xiao-fang, WU Chui-xu, YANG Jian, YANG Jun and YE Zhong-ming for their assistance in field, LIAO Kuo, JIN Xiao-fang and YE Zhong-ming for helpful discussion and suggestion. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31370263 and 31770255).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Wen-Kui Dai, Grace Mercy Amboka, Edwin Luguba Kadiori, Qing-Feng Wang & Chun-Feng Yang

  2. College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Wen-Kui Dai, Grace Mercy Amboka & Edwin Luguba Kadiori

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  1. Wen-Kui Dai
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  2. Grace Mercy Amboka
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  3. Edwin Luguba Kadiori
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  4. Qing-Feng Wang
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  5. Chun-Feng Yang
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Correspondence to Qing-Feng Wang or Chun-Feng Yang.

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Dai, WK., Amboka, G.M., Kadiori, E.L. et al. Phenotypic plasticity of floral traits and pollination adaption in an alpine plant Pedicularis siphonantha D. Don when transplanted from higher to lower elevation in Eastern Himalaya. J. Mt. Sci. 14, 1995–2002 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4481-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4481-1

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