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Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds May Help Reduce Pollinator-Prey Overlap in the Carnivorous Plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae)

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Abstract

Most carnivorous plants show a conspicuous separation between flowers and leaf-traps, which has been interpreted as an adaptive response to minimize pollinator-prey conflicts which will reduce fitness. Here, we used the carnivorous subshrub Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae) to explore if and how carnivorous plants with minimal physical separation of flower and trap avoid or reduce a likely conflict of pollinator and prey. We carried out an extensive field survey in the Aljibe Mountains, at the European side of the Strait of Gibraltar, of pollinating and prey insects of D. lusitanicum. We also performed a detailed analysis of flower and leaf volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs, respectively) by direct thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) to ascertain whether this species shows different VOC/SVOC profiles in flowers and leaf-traps that might attract pollinators and prey, respectively. Our results show a low overlap between pollinator and prey groups as well as clear differences in the relative abundance of VOCs and SVOCs between flowers and leaf-traps. Coleopterans and hymenopterans were the most represented groups of floral visitors, whereas dipterans were the most diverse group of prey insects. Regarding VOCs and SVOCs, while aldehydes and carboxylic acids presented higher relative contents in leaf-traps, alkanes and plumbagin were the main VOC/SVOC compounds detected in flowers. We conclude that D. lusitanicum, despite its minimal flower-trap separation, does not seem to present a marked pollinator-prey conflict. Differences in the VOCs and SVOCs produced by flowers and leaf-traps may help explain the conspicuous differences between pollinator and prey guilds.

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Acknowledgements

Anja Schumm, Hannah Hightower, Braley Gentry and Álvaro Pérez helped with insect censuses in the field. Álvaro Pérez also helped greatly with insect identifications. Cristina Montiel helped with GC-MS analyses. The Andalusian Consejería de Medio Ambiente provided the necessary permits to work with Drosophyllum lusitanicum, an endemic, red-listed species. This paper has benefited from thoughtful comments and suggestions by two anonymous reviewers. The study was supported by project HERRIZA (CGL2015-64007-P; MINECO-FEDER funds).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

FO planned and designed the research, led the fieldwork and wrote the manuscript. CC and LGM performed the GC/MS analyses and contributed to write the Methods section. MPW performed the statistical analyses and contributed to write the Methods section. CC, GFB and MPA contributed to the discussion and made comments on previous versions of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernando Ojeda.

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figure S1

Trace and density plots of three MCMC chains from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of summed relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in major groups as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). (PDF 1652 kb)

Supplementary Figure S2

Caterpillar plots of the distribution of posterior parameters from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of summed relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in major groups as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). Points represent posterior medians. Parameters where 50% credible intervals (C.I.) overlap 0 are indicated by open circles. Parameters where 50% C.I. do not but 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed gray circles. Parameters where 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed black circles. Thick lines represent 50% C.I.; thin lines represent 95% credible intervals. (PDF 6 kb)

Supplementary Figure S3

Trace and density plots of three MCMC chains from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the alkane group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). (PDF 538 kb)

Supplementary Figure S4

Caterpillar plots of the distribution of posterior parameters from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the alkane group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). Points represent posterior medians. Parameters where 50% credible intervals (C.I.) overlap 0 are indicated by open circles. Parameters where 50% C.I. do not but 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed gray circles. Parameters where 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed black circles. Thick lines represent 50% C.I.; thin lines represent 95% credible intervals. (PDF 5 kb)

Supplementary Figure S5

Trace and density plots of three MCMC chains from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the aldehyde group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). (PDF 539 kb)

Supplementary Figure S6

Caterpillar plots of the distribution of posterior parameters from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the aldehyde group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). Points represent posterior medians. Parameters where 50% credible intervals (C.I.) overlap 0 are indicated by open circles. Parameters where 50% C.I. do not but 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed gray circles. Parameters where 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed black circles. Thick lines represent 50% C.I.; thin lines represent 95% credible intervals. (PDF 5 kb)

Supplementary Figure S7

Trace and density plots of three MCMC chains from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the carboxylic -acid group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). (PDF 541 kb)

Supplementary Figure S8

Caterpillar plots of the distribution of posterior parameters from the Bayesian multivariate mixed effect model describing the covariance of relative amounts of VOCs/SVOCs in the carboxylic-acid group as a function of plant part (flower vs. leaf). Points represent posterior medians. Parameters where 50% credible intervals (C.I.) overlap 0 are indicated by open circles. Parameters where 50% C.I. do not but 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed gray circles. Parameters where 95% C.I. do overlap 0 are indicated by closed black circles. Thick lines represent 50% C.I.; thin lines represent 95% credible intervals. (PDF 5 kb)

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Ojeda, F., Carrera, C., Paniw, M. et al. Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds May Help Reduce Pollinator-Prey Overlap in the Carnivorous Plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae). J Chem Ecol 47, 73–86 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01235-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01235-w

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