花蜜在被子植物动物传粉中具有重要作用，但有色花蜜是一个独特而被忽视的花特征，关于花蜜颜色的研究报道非常稀少。有色花蜜与鸟类传粉者的关系被描述为有色花蜜诚实信号假说，即有色花蜜在动物传粉中起诚实视觉信号作用，然而对这一假说的普适性及有色花蜜植物的适应机制仍不清楚。本项目以有色花蜜植物野拔子（Elsholtzia rugulosa）及其传粉者为研究对象，综合多学科研究方法，利用野外及室内行为实验，研究其花部特征的适应性意义和传粉机制，检验诚实信号假说和鸟类传粉假说。重点解决的问题是：（1）有色花蜜植物的成功传粉是否依赖传粉者？如果是，鸟类是其有效传粉者？如果是鸟类传粉，它们二者的相互关系是什么？（2）植物分泌有颜色的花蜜是否在传粉中起到诚实信号作用？本项目如能实施，研究成果将有助于认识有色花蜜的生态进化意义，并为深入理解有色花蜜植物与动物传粉演化关系以及蜜源植物资源的保护利用提供基础数据。

Nectar plays an important role in animal pollination of angiosperms, but colored nectar is a unique and neglected floral trait. The study about nectar coloration is very scarce, the relationship between colored nectar and bird pollinator is described as the honest signal hypothesis, that is , colored nectar act as an honest visual signal in animal pollination. However, the unviersality of this hypothesis and adaptation mechanism of colored nectar plants remains unclear. In this project, using multidisciplinary mechods, we select colored nectar plant of Elsholtzia rugulosa and the pollinator as the study materials to study the adaptive significances of floral traits of colored nectar plants and pollination mechanism with field investigations and behavior experiments in laboratory. The following specific questions are addressed: (1) Does successful pollination of E.rugulosa depend on the pollinator? If so, are birds effective pollinators? If so,how is the interaction between the colored nectar plant and the bird pollinator?（2）whether does the colored nectar play a signal role in pollination. The findings of the project will help us understand the ecological evolution significance of the unique floral traits-colored nectar, provide basic data for studying the evolutionary relationships of colored nectar plants and animal pollinators, as well as the protection and utilization of nectar plants.