Variation in context-dependent foraging behavior across pollinators

Abstract

Pollinator foraging behavior has direct consequences for plant reproduction and hasbeen implicated in driving floral trait evolution. Exploring the degree to which pollinators exhibit flexibility in foraging behavior will add to a mechanistic understandingof how pollinators can impose selection on plant traits. Although plants have evolvedsuites of floral traits to attract pollinators, flower color is a particularly importantaspect of the floral display. Some pollinators show strong innate color preference,but many pollinators display flexibility in preference due to learning associations between rewards and color, or due to variable perception of color in different environments or plant communities. This study examines the flexibility in flower colorpreference of two groups of native butterfly pollinators under natural field conditions. We find that pipevine swallowtails (Battus philenor) and skippers (familyHesperiidae), the predominate pollinators of the two native Texas Phlox species, Phloxcuspidata and Phlox drummondii, display distinct patterns of color preferences acrossdifferent contexts. Pipevine swallowtails exhibit highly flexible color preferences andlikely utilize other floral traits to make foraging decisions. In contrast, skippers haveconsistent color preferences and likely use flower color as a primary cue for foraging.As a result of this variation in color preference flexibility, the two pollinator groupsimpose concordant selection on flower color in some contexts but discordant selection in other contexts. This variability could have profound implications for howflower traits respond to pollinator-mediated selection. Our findings suggest thatstudying dynamics of behavior in natural field conditions is important for understanding plant-pollinator interactions.