Data from: The pollination of Habenaria rhodocheila (Orchidaceae) in South China: When butterflies take sides
Data files
Nov 13, 2024 version files 37.91 MB
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Chen_XH_et_al._2021._Ecology_and_Evolution._dataset.zip
37.90 MB
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README.md
2.48 KB
Abstract
Habenaria is one of the largest terrestrial genera in the family Orchidaceae. Most field studies on Habenaria species with greenish-white and nocturnal scented flowers are pollinated by nocturnal hawkmoths and settling moths. However, H. rhodocheila presents reddish flowers lacking a detectable scent and fails to fit the moth pollination syndrome. We investigated the pollinators, breeding system and functional traits of H. rhodocheila in South China and found that two diurnal swallowtail butterflies Papilio helenus and P. nephelus (Papilionidae) were the effective pollinators. When butterflies foraged for nectar in the spur, the pollinia became attached between the palpi. A triangular projected median rostellar lobe was found at the entrance (sinus) of the spur of H. rhodocheila. This lobe divided the spur opening into two entrances forcing butterflies to enter their proboscides through the left or right side. When the projection of median rostellar lobe was removed, the site of pollinium attachment changed to the eyes of the butterflies, leading to a higher rate of pollinium removal but lower rate of pollinium deposition. Our quartz glass cylinder choice experiment suggested that visual rather than olfactory cues provided the major stimuli for butterflies to locate these flowers. Hand pollination experiments suggested this species was self-compatible but pollinator dependent. However, the proportion of seeds with large embryos produced in self-pollinated fruits was significantly lower than in cross-pollinated fruits, indicating a significant inbreeding depression. Unlike many other orchid species, fruit set was higher than rates of pollinium removal, indicating a high level of pollination efficiency in a species with friable pollinia. Shifts from moth to butterfly pollination in the genus Habenaria parallel other orchid lineages providing insights in the potential for pollinator-mediated floral trait selection.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pc866t1n8
Description of the data and file structure
The dataset includes embryonic development data, floral trait data, pollinator visit data, and pollinator visit data of Habenaria rhodocheila.
Files and variables
File: Chen_et_al._2021._Ecology_and_Evolution._dataset.zip
Description:
(1) The embryonic development data file shows the proportion of large, small, aborted, and no embryo under natural, cross, and self-pollination respectively. Ten dehiscent ovaries from each treatment were harvested to estimate embryonic development (values in each column of the table). All the seeds of each fruit were placed on a petri dish and examined under a light microscope, Olympus BX51 (Tokyo, Japan). Seeds were assigned to four categories following the method of Ren et al. (2014) i.e. large embryo, small embryo, aborted embryo, and no embryo.
(2) The flower trait data file shows the floral traits including spur length (N=30), distance between opening of spur to the viscidium (N=30), distance between the two stigma lobes (N=30), distance between two viscidia (N=30), length of caudicle (N=15), length of pollinium (N=15), width of pollinium (N=15), nectar length at daytime (N=20), nectar volume at daytime (N=20), nectar length at night (N=20), nectar volume at night (N=20), nectar concentration at daytime (N=20), and nectar concentration at night (N=20). Each column represents the value of a replicate measurement.
(3) Pollinator visit data file shows the behaviors of the two pollinators of Habenaria rhodocheila, including spent time at each flower, spent time at each flower inflorescence, number of flowers visited in a inflorescence, proboscis length, and pollinia carried. Each column represents the value of a independent observation.
(4) The video file Video S1 recorded the process of a swallowtail butterfly Papilio nephelus foraging Habenaria rhodocheila flowers with pollinaria attached between its palpi.
Code/software
None
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- None
Data was derived from the following sources: Data was derived from the recordings in the natural populations of Habenaria rhodocheila in Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve of southern China.
This dataset was collected from field observations conducted in the Jiulianshan Natural Nature Reserve of South China. The fieldwork was accomplished by Xing-Hui Chen and other authors as referred to author contributions in the manuscript.