Data from: Hummingbird pollination and the diversification of angiosperms: an old and successful association in Gesneriaceae

The effects of specific functional groups of pollinators in the diversification of angiosperms are still to be elucidated. We investigated whether the pollination shifts or the specific association with hummingbirds affected the diversification of a highly diverse angiosperm lineage in the Neotropics. We reconstructed a phylogeny of 583 species from the Gesneriaceae family and detected diversification shifts through time, inferred the timing and amount of transitions among pollinator functional groups, and tested the association between hummingbird pollination and speciation and extinction rates. We identified a high frequency of pollinator transitions, including reversals to insect-pollination. Diversification rates of the group increased through time since 25 Mya, coinciding with the evolution of hummingbird-like flowers and the arrival of hummingbirds in South America. We showed that plants pollinated by hummingbirds have a two-fold higher speciation rate compared to plants pollinated by insects, and that transitions among functional groups of pollinators had a little impact on the diversification process. We demonstrated that floral specialization on hummingbirds for pollination has triggered rapid diversification in the Gesneriaceae family since the early Miocene, and that it represents one of the oldest identified plant-hummingbird associations. Biotic drivers of plant diversification in the Neotropics could be more related to this specific type of pollinator (hummingbirds), than to shifts among different functional groups of pollinators.

传粉者特定功能群对被子植物（angiosperms）多样化进程的影响仍有待阐明。本研究针对新热带区一个物种多样性极高的被子植物支系，探究传粉转变或与蜂鸟（hummingbirds）的专性关联是否对其多样化产生了影响。我们重建了苦苣苔科（Gesneriaceae）583个物种的系统发育树，检测了随时间推移的多样化转变，推断了传粉者功能群间的演化过渡时机与规模，并检验了蜂鸟传粉与物种形成速率、灭绝速率之间的关联。研究发现传粉者转变发生频率极高，其中包括向虫媒传粉的反向演化。自2500万年前以来，该类群的多样化速率随时间不断提升，这与类蜂鸟花型的演化以及蜂鸟抵达南美洲的时间相吻合。我们证实，依赖蜂鸟传粉的植物，其物种形成速率是虫媒植物的两倍；而传粉者功能群间的过渡对多样化进程的影响相对有限。本研究证明，自中新世早期以来，以蜂鸟为专性传粉者的花部特化，推动了苦苣苔科植物的快速多样化，且该类群代表了目前已发现的最古老的植物-蜂鸟传粉关联之一。新热带区植物多样化的生物驱动因子，或更多与这类特定传粉者相关，而非传粉者不同功能群间的转变。