Volume 20, Issue 2 pp. 437-442
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Cospeciation is not the dominant driver of plant–pollinator codiversification in specialized pollination systems

Channongxouang TAENGON

Channongxouang TAENGON

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China

College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Channongxouang Taengon and Ying Feng contributed equally.

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Ying FENG

Ying FENG

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China

College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Channongxouang Taengon and Ying Feng contributed equally.

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Yuanye ZHANG

Yuanye ZHANG

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China

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Sasith Tharanga ALUTHWATTHA

Sasith Tharanga ALUTHWATTHA

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China

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Jin CHEN

Jin CHEN

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China

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Gang WANG

Corresponding Author

Gang WANG

CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China

Correspondence: Gang Wang, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 28 August 2024

Abstract

This study systematically rejects the long-standing notion of cospeciation as the dominant driver of codiversification between flowering plants and their specialist pollinators. Through cophylogenetic analysis of six classical specialized pollination systems, the research finds that cospeciation events are consistently outnumbered by non-cospeciation events, such as host-switch, duplication, and association losses. The findings support a more dynamic and diffuse codiversification paradigm, highlighting the importance of considering a broader range of evolutionary events in understanding plant–pollinator codiversification. This new understanding is robust across diverse pollination systems and has significant implications for conservation strategies in the face of environmental change.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no competing interests.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Supplementary methods and raw results are available as supporting information for this paper.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.