Mimicry in plants

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The climber Boquila trifoliata is thought to vary its leaf shape to resemble the plant it is climbing on, perhaps reducing its conspicuousness to herbivores.[1]

In

herbivory, or may deceptively encourage mutualists, like pollinators, to provide a service without offering a reward in return.[2]

Types of plant mimicry include Bakerian, where female flowers imitate males of the same species, Müllerian mimicry of the flower or fruit, where a plant mimics a rewarding flower (Dodsonian), luring pollinators by mimicking another species of flower, or fruit where feeders of the other species are attracted to a fake fruit to distribute seeds,

Pouyannian
, in which a flower imitates a female mate for a pollinating insect, Batesian, where a harmless species deter predators by mimicking the characteristics of a harmful species, and leaf mimicry, where a plant resembles a nearby plant to evade the attention of herbivores.

Bakerian

Bakerian mimicry, named after English naturalist

tropical regions of Central and South America, and Africa.[4][5]

Dodsonian

Dodsonian mimicry, named after American

taxonomist, Calaway H. Dodson, is a form of reproductive floral mimicry, but the model belongs to a different species than the mimic.[6] By providing similar sensory signals as the model flower, it can lure its pollinators. Like Bakerian mimics, no nectar
is provided.

Examples

milkweed family, and both are native to the American tropics. Epidendrum ibaguense is pollinated by monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and perhaps hummingbirds.[7] Similar cases are seen in some other species of the same family. The mimetic species may still have pollinators of its own though, for example a Lamellicorn beetle, which usually pollinates correspondingly colored Cistus flowers, is also known to aid in pollination of Ophrys species that are normally pollinated by bees.[8]

Vavilovian

Main article: Vavilovian mimicry

Vavilovian mimicry (also known as crop mimicry or weed mimicry

artificial selection.[10] Selection against the weed may occur by killing a young or adult weed, separating its seeds from those of the crop (winnowing), or both. This has been done manually since Neolithic times, and in more recent years by agricultural machinery
.

Pouyannian

Bee orchid flower resembles a female bee closely enough to attract males in search of a mate
Main article:
Pouyannian mimicry

Many plants have evolved to appear like other organisms, most commonly

Pouyannian mimicry,[11] flowers mimic a potential female mate visually, but the key stimuli are often chemical and tactile.[12]

Examples

The hammer

better source needed
]

The orchid Epipactis helleborine is physiologically and morphologically adapted to attract social wasps as their primary pollinators. Social wasps feed their larvae on insects like caterpillars. To locate that prey, they use a combination of visual and olfactory cues. The flowers of E. helleborine and E. purpurata emit green-leaf volatiles (GLVs), which are attractive to foragers of the social wasps Vespula germanica and V. vulgaris. Several E. helleborine GLVs that induced a response in the antennae of wasps were also emitted by cabbage leaves infested with caterpillars (Pieris brassicae), which are common prey items for wasps. Despite a large nectar reward, the species is almost entirely overlooked by other pollinators.[14]

brood sites. The decaying smell of the flower comes from oligosulfides, decayed proteins that contain amino acids methionine and cysteine. While carrion flowers do produce a small amount of nectar, this does not necessarily make its relationship to necrophagous insects mutualistic. Insects lay eggs on the carrion flowers, meaning they mistake them for oviposition sites. The nectar acts as a lure to bring the insects closer to the reproductive parts of the flower.[15]

Batesian

Main article:
predator
.

Examples

Thorn mimicry of two types has been observed in plants. The first, a special case of intra-organismic Batesian mimicry characteristic of Aloe sp. (Liliaceae), W. filifera (Palmaceae), and dozens of species of Agave, including A. applanta, A. salmiana, and A. obscura. These plants develop thorn-like imprints or colorations on the face of their leaves due to the teeth along the margins of that leaf (or another leaf) pressing sustained indentations into the flesh of the non-spiny parts.

The second type of thorn mimicry, a more classic case of Batesian mimicry, involves the pointed, colorful organs like buds, leaves and fruit of memetic plant species that mimic aposematic colorful thorns not found anywhere else in the organism.[16]

Several plants growing in Israel, Estonia, Greece, and Japan exhibit possible spider web mimicry. Dense, white trichomes are produced on newly extended stems and leaves that deter herbivory due to predatory habit or toxicity. This may be a case of visual mimicry or perceptual exploitation. Case examples include the new buds of

Tussilago farfara from Estonia, and new fronds of Osmunda japonica from Japan.[17]

Cryptic mimicry

In ecology, crypsis is an organism's ability to avoid detection by other organisms. Therefore, cryptic mimicry is a situation where a prey organism deceives a potential predator by providing false signals or a lack of signals. Cryptic mimicry in plants is usually achieved visually.

Examples

Boquila trifoliata, a South American member of the family Lardizabalaceae, is a climbing vine with a highly variable phenotype. It is capable of mimicking the leaf features of plant species that it clings to, adopting color shape and size. By camouflaging its leafy appendages, Boquila lowers its rate of herbivory.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In this case the weed is the mimic, not the model as in ant mimicry.

References

  1. ^
    PMID 24768053
    .
  2. PMID 27623255
    .
  3. doi:10.1554/0014-3820(2001)055[2371:tbasec]2.0.co;2
    .
  4. ^ Baker 1976, pp. 161–169.
  5. ^ Bawa 1980, pp. 467–474.
  6. ^ Dodson & Frymire 1961, pp. 133–139.
  7. ^ Boyden 1980, pp. 135–136.
  8. ^ Kullenberg 1961, pp. 1–340.
  9. ^ Vavilov 1951, pp. 1–366.
  10. ^ Pasteur 1982, p. 169–199.
  11. ^ Pasteur 1982, p. 169.
  12. ^ van der Pijl & Dodson 1966, pp. 129–141.
  13. ^ Hammer Orchid and Wasps.
  14. PMID 18472423
    .
  15. PMID 27404246
    .
  16. PMID 12927525
    .
  17. PMID 25193285
    .

Sources

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