Floral specialization and angiosperm diversity: phenotypic divergence, fitness trade-offs and realized pollination accuracy

摘要: Plant reproduction bymeans offlowershas long been thought topromote thesuccess and diversification of angiosperms. It remains unclear, however, how this success has come about. Do flowers, their capacity to have specialized functions, increase speciation rates or decrease extinction rates? Is floral specialization fundamental incidental the diversification? Some studies suggest that conclusions we draw about role flowers in increased phenotypic disparity (phenotypic diversity) angiosperms depends on system. For orchids, for example, pollination may rates, part because most orchids pollen is packed discrete units so precise enough contribute reproductive isolation. In plants, granular results lowrealized precision, thus key innovations involvingflowers more likely reflect reduced combined with opportunities evolution greater occupation new niches. Understanding causes consequences requires knowledge both selective regimes potential fitness trade-offs using than one pollinator functional group. The study function flowering-plant a vibrant evolutionary field. Application methods, from measuring natural selection estimating holds much promise improving our understanding relationship between success.