Coevolution Between Animals and Plants

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Coevolution can be described as “the joint evolution of two interactive species, each in response to selection imposed by the other” (Reece et al., 2011, p. G-8). A common interaction between species is pollination/sperm transfer. It involves the fertilization of plants through animals who transfer the pollen or sperm of the plant to its ovules. This essay is going to look at this interaction, specifically discussing the fertilization of moss by microarthropods as described in the key paper to this essay (Rosenstiel et al., 2012), and the origins of this coevolutionary relationship. An example of plant-animal pollination occurs between species of orchid and its pollinators. Orchids use various signals to attract male pollinators (Gaskett, 2010). They can do this by deceiving the pollinator through mimicking the female counterpart of the pollinator species. Smell, colour, and shape are all key to this type of deception. Orchids mimic the pheromones that would usually be released by females of the pollinator species – scent is essential to attract male pollinators over a long distance. The colour of the orchid flowers is also an important factor in attracting mates for the pollinator. Colours such as white and green can be used to obscure the flower from the view of the pollinator – as these colours are difficult to distinguish from the rest of the plant – so the pollinator is deceived into thinking that the flower is its female counterpart. It was found that insects are more attracted to yellow and ultraviolet wavelengths; in the orchid Paphiopedilum barbigerum, pollinators are attracted to the bright yellow spots on its labellum (Shi, as cited in Gaskett, 2010). Shape is also an important factor in the attraction of pollinators. Orchids mimic the dimensions and tactile features of the female pollinator, as well as the size of the labellum of an orchid being
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