Intraspecific independent evolution of floral spur length in response to local flower visitor size in Japanese Aquilegia in different mountain regions

Geographic differences in floral traits may reflect geographic differences in effective pollinator assemblages. Independent local adaptation to pollinator assemblages in multiple regions would be expected to cause parallel floral trait evolution, although sufficient evidence for this is still lacking. In this study, we investigated the relationship between flower spur length and pollinator size in 16 populations of Aquilegia buergeriana var. buergeriana distributed in four mountain regions in the Japanese Alps. We also examined the genetic relationship between yellow- and red-flowered individuals, to see if color differences caused genetic differentiation by pollinator isolation. Genetic relationships among 16 populations were analyzed based on genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Even among populations within the same mountain region, pollinator size varied widely, and the average spur length of A. buergeriana var. buergeriana in each population was strongly related to the aver...

花性状的地理差异或可反映有效传粉者类群（effective pollinator assemblages）的地理分化。尽管目前仍缺乏足够证据支持这一推论，但多个区域内针对传粉者类群的独立局部适应（local adaptation），理应引发平行的花性状演化（parallel floral trait evolution）。本研究针对分布于日本阿尔卑斯山四个山地区域的16个日本耧斗菜原变种（Aquilegia buergeriana var. buergeriana）种群，探究了花距长度（flower spur length）与传粉者体型（pollinator size）之间的关联。此外，本研究还检测了黄花与红花个体间的遗传关系（genetic relationship），以明确花色差异是否会通过传粉者隔离（pollinator isolation）引发遗传分化（genetic differentiation）。研究基于全基因组单核苷酸多态性（genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms），对16个种群间的遗传关系开展了分析。即便处于同一山地区域内的种群间，传粉者体型也存在广泛差异，且各种群中日本耧斗菜原变种的平均花距长度与平均……