Birds, Bees, and Moths Drive Flower Evolution


	Birds, Bees, and Moths Drive Flower Evolution

wildcat

6-8-2007 7:12 AM

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tags:

science, research, birds, bees, flowers, evolution, darwin

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b0e18322-1004-4f29-bc85-6f9e3e862f13/D4430D52-EC00-471F-9D57-5C820390FC8F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html" href="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html" style="font-size: 11px;">physorg.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html">Flowers in the columbine genus Aquilegia are growing exceptionally long flower spurs in response to pollinators.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html">  
Flowers evolve in a predictable fashion to match the mouthparts of pollinating birds and insects, rather than engaging in a gradual "arms race" between flower and pollinator, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Santa Barbara. An article describing the study is published in the June 7 issue of the journal <I>Nature</I>.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/physorg.com/img/7AE63F3D-B065-49A3-B838-43626E50BFD9" alt="Flowers in the columbine genus Aquilegia are growing exceptionally long flower spurs in response to pollinators. Credit: SA Hodges MA Hodges D Inouye" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html"><DIV> 
The research builds on work done by Charles Darwin more than 140 years ago.
</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html"><DIV>Columbine flowers, found all over the Northern Hemisphere, but with exceptional diversity in Western North America, keep their nectar at the bottom of a spur that ranges from fractions of an inch to several inches long, depending on species. Bees, birds or hawkmoths that visit to drink the nectar get dusted with pollen. 
</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://physorg.com/news100442025.html">There's strong selection on the plant to draw pollinators into the flower for successful pollination</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/D4430D52-EC00-471F-9D57-5C820390FC8F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>