Conical Epidermal Cells Allow Bees to Grip Flowers and Increase Foraging Efficiency
Conical Epidermal Cells Allow Bees to Grip Flowers and Increase Foraging Efficiency
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.051
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发表时间：
2009-06-09
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Glover, Beverley J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Whitney, Heather M.;Chittka, Lars;Glover, Beverley J.
植物表面默认是平坦的，而远离这种默认的发展被认为具有进化优势的功能。虽然许多植物表皮细胞的功能已经被描述，但圆锥形表皮细胞的功能，在大多数昆虫授粉的花中花瓣的定义特征，还没有[1，2]。圆锥形细胞的位置和频率已经导致推测它们在吸引动物传粉者中起作用[1，3，4]。缺乏锥形细胞的金鱼草突变体已被证明会受到觅食熊蜂的歧视[4]。在这里，我们调查了在何种程度上花瓣表面结构的差异影响传粉者的行为，通过触摸为基础的歧视。为了分离基于触摸的反应，我们使用了仿生复制品的花瓣表面和等基因金鱼草线不同，只有在花瓣表皮细胞形状。我们发现，觅食熊蜂能够区分不同的表面之间通过触觉线索。我们发现，大黄蜂使用颜色线索，以区别于花，缺乏圆锥形细胞，但只有当花的表面呈现在陡峭的角度，使他们难以操纵。这种物理处理的便利性是大多数开花植物中圆锥形表皮花瓣细胞普遍存在的可能解释。
The plant surface is by default flat, and development away from this default is thought to have some function of evolutionary advantage. Although the functions of many plant epidermal cells have been described, the function of conical epidermal cells, a defining feature of petals in the majority of insect-pollinated flowers, has not [1, 2]. The location and frequency of conical cells have led to speculation that they play a role in attracting animal pollinators [1, 3, 4]. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum) mutants lacking conical cells have been shown to be discriminated against by foraging bumblebees [4]. Here we investigated the extent to which a difference in petal surface structure influences pollinator behavior through touch-based discrimination. To isolate touch-based responses, we used both biomimetic replicas of petal surfaces and isogenic Antirrhinum lines differing only in petal epidermal cell shape. We show that foraging bumblebees are able to discriminate between different surfaces via tactile cues alone. We find that bumblebees use color cues to discriminate against flowers that lack conical cells-but only when flower surfaces are presented at steep angles, making them difficult to manipulate. This facilitation of physical handling is a likely explanation for the prevalence of conical epidermal petal cells in most flowering plants.