Nectar bacteria, but not yeast, weaken a plant-pollinator mutualism

Mutualistic interactions are often subject to exploitation by species that are not directly involved in the mutualism. Understanding which organisms act as such 'third-party' species and how they do so is a major challenge in the current study of mutualistic interactions. Here, we show tha...

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Vydáno v:	Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Ročník 280; číslo 1752; s. 20122601
Hlavní autoři:	Vannette, Rachel L, Gauthier, Marie-Pierre L, Fukami, Tadashi
Médium:	Journal Article
Jazyk:	angličtina
Vydáno:	England 07.02.2013
Témata:	Animals Birds - physiology California DNA, Bacterial - genetics Feeding Behavior Flowers - microbiology Flowers - physiology Gluconobacter - classification Gluconobacter - genetics Gluconobacter - isolation & purification Gluconobacter - physiology Metschnikowia - classification Metschnikowia - genetics Metschnikowia - isolation & purification Metschnikowia - physiology Mimulus - microbiology Mimulus - physiology Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny Plant Nectar - chemistry Plant Nectar - metabolism Pollination Reproduction RNA, Fungal - genetics RNA, Ribosomal - genetics RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics Sequence Analysis, DNA Symbiosis California
ISSN:	1471-2954, 1471-2954
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Popis
Shrnutí:	Mutualistic interactions are often subject to exploitation by species that are not directly involved in the mutualism. Understanding which organisms act as such 'third-party' species and how they do so is a major challenge in the current study of mutualistic interactions. Here, we show that even species that appear ecologically similar can have contrasting effects as third-party species. We experimentally compared the effects of nectar-inhabiting bacteria and yeasts on the strength of a mutualism between a hummingbird-pollinated shrub, Mimulus aurantiacus, and its pollinators. We found that the common bacterium Gluconobacter sp., but not the common yeast Metschnikowia reukaufii, reduced pollination success, seed set and nectar consumption by pollinators, thereby weakening the plant-pollinator mutualism. We also found that the bacteria reduced nectar pH and total sugar concentration more greatly than the yeasts did and that the bacteria decreased glucose concentration and increased fructose concentration whereas the yeasts affected neither. These distinct changes to nectar chemistry may underlie the microbes' contrasting effects on the mutualism. Our results suggest that it is necessary to understand the determinants of microbial species composition in nectar and their differential modification of floral rewards to explain the mutual benefits that plants and pollinators gain from each other.
Bibliografie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1471-2954 1471-2954
DOI:	10.1098/rspb.2012.2601