XVI International Botanical Congess
Hawkmoths are important pollinators, providing pollen transfer in exchange for nectar. The odors and visual displays of HM-pollinated flowers are required to attract moths but scent chemistry is not tightly conserved. Floral rewards and advertisements are costly in metabolic currency and apparency to natural enemies. Differences in scent chemistry should reflect phylogeny, scent and nectar should be lost when autogamy is derived from HM-pollination. We are testing these hypotheses where HM-pollination has been gained/lost in Nyctaginaceae, Onagraceae and Solanaceae. Scent chemistry varies significantly among HM-pollinated Nyctaginaceae and Solanaceae. Scent is lost in autogamous Nicotiana and Oenothera derived from a HM-pollinated ancestry, while changes in nectar concentration and volume are more variable.