Data from: Local adaptation: mechanical fit between floral ecotypes of Nerine humilis (Amaryllidaceae) and pollinator communities

Geographic variation in floral morphology is often assumed to reflect geographic variation in pollinator communities and associated divergence in selective pressures. We studied populations of Nerine humilis (Amaryllidaceae) to assess whether geographic variation in floral form is the result of local adaptation to different pollinator communities. We first tested for associations between floral traits and visitor communities, and found that populations with similar floral morphologies were visited by similar insect communities. Mean style length in each population was also closely associated with the mean body length of the local visitor community. A reciprocal translocation experiment demonstrated that native phenotypes set more seed than translocated phenotypes. Single visitation experiments showed that native flowers received more pollen, and set more seed per visit, than introduced phenotypes in both populations. This suggests that the effectiveness of pollinator visits is determined by the degree of mechanical fit between flowers and visitors. We provide strong evidence that the observed among-population variation in floral traits is an adaptive response to geographic variation in the pollinator community.

花形态的地理变异通常被认为反映了传粉者群落的地理分化及其伴随的选择压力趋异。本研究以矮小尼润花（Nerine humilis）及其所属的石蒜科（Amaryllidaceae）种群为研究对象，旨在探究花形态的地理变异是否是对不同传粉者群落进行本地适应的结果。我们首先检验了花部性状与访花昆虫群落之间的关联，结果发现花形态相似的种群，其对应的访花昆虫群落也具有较高的相似性。每个种群的平均花柱长度，也与当地访花昆虫的平均体长存在紧密关联。互置移栽实验（reciprocal translocation experiment）结果显示，本地表型的结籽量高于异地移植的表型。单花单次访花实验表明，在两个受试种群中，本地花的花粉接收量及单次访花后的结籽量均高于引入的异地表型。这表明传粉者访花的有效性，取决于花与访花者之间的机械匹配程度。本研究提供了强有力的证据，证明所观测到的种群间花部性状变异，是对传粉者群落地理分化的适应性响应。