Pollinator's death trap turns into nursery
In a group of plants that is famous for luring its pollinators into a death trap, one species offers its flowers as a nursery in exchange. The Kobe University discovery blurs the line between mutualism and parasitism and sheds light on the evolution of complex plant-insect interactions. Many plants rely on animals for pollination and most offer rewards for the service. Some plants, however, deceive their pollinators, and a famous example is the genus Arisaema. “It is famous as the only plant that achieves pollination at the expense of the pollinator's life,” says Kobe University biologist SUETSUGU Kenji, who is an expert on plant pollination ecology. The plant uses ...
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