Abstract
Several barriers contribute to reproductive isolation between plant species, which can be classified as pre- or post-pollination. Understanding the strength of these barriers could clarify the factors that maintain reproductive isolation and thus species integrity. In this study, we quantified reproductive isolation between two bat-pollinated co-occurring Bauhinia species (B. acuruana and B. pentandra) with similar flower morphology. Over the course of 18 months, we assessed reproductive isolation between these two Bauhinia species by quantifying the individual strengths and absolute contributions of five pre- and post- pollination barriers. Our data showed that both species are completely isolated in their reproduction by a combination of several barriers. Although they co-occur in a few populations, we found a high degree of geographic isolation between them. And although their flowering periods overlap, there is a significant difference in flowering peaks. Both species have the same pollinating bats, but the interspecific transfer of pollen between the plant species may be reduced due to the different length of the flower stamens, resulting in different pollen deposition on the bats’ bodies. We have documented complete incompatibility between taxa and conclude that pre- and post-pollination barriers are important factors in preventing gene flow, even in contact zones between these two species of Bauhinia. We highlight that our work is the first study to use methods to estimate the strength of reproductive isolation barriers between bat-pollinated species.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Ugo Diniz for his careful review of the semi-final version of the manuscript, and for his help with some statistical analyses; Arthur Domingos-Melo for the drawings of the Fig. 5c and help in the field; Ana Jardelino for identifying the bats; Sofia Chalegre and Haymée Alencar for assistance in the field. Daniela Zappi and Nigel Taylor for their careful review and for improving the text language in the final version. The Long Term Ecological Project (LTER) PELD-Catimbau, coordinated by Dr. Marcelo Tabarelli, for logistical support.
Funding
This work was supported by the CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), Brazil (PROEX-0487, 88887.898666/2023-00 awarded to S-AL and 001 to all authors) and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Chamada Universal 459485/2014-8, 437424/2018-9, LTER-Catimbau 403770/2012-2; and research grants to ICM: 311021/2014-0 and 310508/2019-3, and AVL: 309505/20186 and 306286/2022-0).
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SA-L and ICM conceived the study and designed the experiment, SA-L conducted the field experiment, SA-L, AVL and ICM analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript.
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Albuquerque-Lima, S., Lopes, A.V. & Machado, I.C. Reproductive isolation between two sympatric bat-pollinated Bauhinia (Leguminosae). J Plant Res 137, 65–77 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-023-01508-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-023-01508-x