Floral community predicts pollinators’ color preference: implications for Batesian floral mimicry

Michael R Whitehead, Anne C Gaskett and Steven D Johnson

Behavioral Ecology, 2019, vol. 30, issue 1, 213-222

Abstract: African long tongue fly pollinators strongly prefer colors most often associated with their nectar diet. Most flowers offer a nectar reward in exchange for pollination by animals. However, some orchids cheat pollinators, mimicking the color signals of nectar-bearing flowers but offering no reward. Using artificial flowers, we show that the color composition of a flowering community determines the success of this mimicry because of its tight link to a pollinator’s color preference.

Keywords: Batesian mimicry; color vision; conditioning; flower color; learning; pollination; vision (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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