Reconciling Ecological Processes with Phylogenetic Patterns: The Apparent Paradox of Plant--Pollinator Systems

Abstract

To what extent do studies of the ecology of mutualistic interactions inform us about the evolution of such relationships? As I will show below, the evolution of floral diversity seems to be based upon specialized relationships with pollinators, yet (with some obvious exceptions) the majority of angiosperms appear to be promiscuously pollinated by a range of taxa. This apparent discrepancy between ecological process and phylogenetic pattern is worth exploring in some detail. Consider four facts regarding plantpollinator interactions: