Insect pollinators serve a critical role in maintaining plant biodiversity and are especially susceptible to changes within their environment. To study the possible effects of seasonal variation in temperature, as well as climatic temperature increase on the plant-pollinator community, the relationship between bumblebee and flowering plant traits along an elevational gradient, representing warming-induced changes in plant community, were examined. Two hypotheses were tested; 1) if plant traits can predict visiting bumblebee proboscis length, and 2) if the relationship between plant traits and proboscis length is influenced by elevation, and the progression of the growing season. The study took place along an elevational gradient on Mt. Nuolja in Abisko National Park, Sweden. During surveys bumblebees were caught and measured. Flowers visited by captured bumblebees were collected, categorized by restrictiveness (i.e., whether or not the flower require a certain proboscis length, in order to access the nectar and pollen rewards) and floral traits measured (e.g., petal length). The results revealed that petal length was a significant predictor of bumblebee proboscis length, when taking restrictiveness into account. Furthermore, the relationship became weaker with increasing elevation for restrictive flowers but stronger for unrestrictive flowers. These findings show that trait-matching between bumblebees and flowers is an influential factor for flower selection and is affected by climatic temperature. This highlights the importance of considering individual-level traits when studying plant preference and creates a framework for assessing plant-pollinator networks. Future studies should examine additional traits that could explain the apparent size matching between unrestrictive flowers and proboscis.

Insect pollinators serve a critical role in maintaining plant biodiversity and are especially susceptible to changes within their environment. To study the possible effects of seasonal variation in temperature, as well as climatic temperature increase on the plant-pollinator community, the relationship between bumblebee and flowering plant traits along an elevational gradient, representing warming-induced changes in plant community, were examined. Two hypotheses were tested; 1) if plant traits can predict visiting bumblebee proboscis length, and 2) if the relationship between plant traits and proboscis length is influenced by elevation, and the progression of the growing season. The study took place along an elevational gradient on Mt. Nuolja in Abisko National Park, Sweden. During surveys bumblebees were caught and measured. Flowers visited by captured bumblebees were collected, categorized by restrictiveness (i.e., whether or not the flower require a certain proboscis length, in order to access the nectar and pollen rewards) and floral traits measured (e.g., petal length). The results revealed that petal length was a significant predictor of bumblebee proboscis length, when taking restrictiveness into account. Furthermore, the relationship became weaker with increasing elevation for restrictive flowers but stronger for unrestrictive flowers. These findings show that trait-matching between bumblebees and flowers is an influential factor for flower selection and is affected by climatic temperature. This highlights the importance of considering individual-level traits when studying plant preference and creates a framework for assessing plant-pollinator networks. Future studies should examine additional traits that could explain the apparent size matching between unrestrictive flowers and proboscis.

Les palmiers constituent une famille emblématique de monocotylédones, comprenant 183 genres et environ 2500 espèces distribuées sur tous les continents dans les zones tropicales et subtropicales. Leurs feuilles et leurs stipes, très caractéristiques, les rendent facilement reconnaissables dans la nature. En revanche leurs fleurs passent souvent inaperçues. Elles sont généralement petites (quelques centimètres), trimères, unisexuées, peu colorées (blanches ou vertes) et regroupées sur de grandes inflorescences. Cependant les palmiers présentent une diversité importante au niveau du système sexuel et du nombre d’étamines. Les trois systèmes sexuels principaux des angiospermes : hermaphrodisme, monoécie et dioécie, sont présents chez les palmiers. Le nombre d’étamines varie entre quelques unités (oligandrie) et des dizaines, voire centaines, d’unités (polyandrie) chez certains genres. Nous avons étudié l’évolution du système sexuel et du nombre d’étamines à l’échelle de la famille. Nous avons pour cela utilisé une phylogénie comprenant tous les genres de palmiers, bien résolue, datée et qui a été publiée récemment. Notre étude a montré que l’ancêtre commun à tous les palmiers était probablement monoïque et possédait des fleurs oligandres à 6 étamines. A partir de ces états ancestraux, plusieurs transitions ont eu lieu : vers l’hermaphrodisme et la monoécie d’une part, et vers la polyandrie d’autre part. Dans l’objectif d’initier une recherche sur une éventuelle explication fonctionnelle de l’augmentation du nombre d’étamines, nous avons comparé celui-ci à la production de pollen, en étudiant la quantité totale de pollen produite par les fleurs de 82 espèces. Notre étude a montré que, chez deux sous-familles, les fleurs ont tendance à produire plus de pollen quand le nombre d’étamines est plus élevé. Nous avons également réalisé la phylogénie moléculaire d’une sous-tribu (les Ptychospermatinae) dans laquelle la variation du nombre d’étamines est exceptionnelle. De futures études sur la génétique, le développement, l’écologie et la biologie de la pollinisation sont nécessaires. / Palms (Arecaceae) are an emblematic family of monocots of 183 genera and around 2500 species distributed on all continents, throughout tropical and subtropical areas. Their characteristic leaves and stems make palms immediately recognizable in the field. The inconspicuous palm flowers are usually considered as rather dull. They are usually small (a few centimetres), trimerous, often unisexual, colourless (white or greenish) and grouped into huge inflorescences. However palms exhibit a large diversity in sexual system and in stamen number, diversity that is still poorly understood. The three main sexual systems of angiosperm, hermaphroditism, dioecy and monoecy are present in palms. Stamen number ranges between a few units (oligandry) to several dozens and even several hundreds of units (polyandry) in some genera. We studied the evolution of sexual system and stamen number at the family level. We used as historical framework a well-supported and dated phylogeny, published recently. Our study showed that the putative ancestor of palms was monoecious and bore oligandrous flowers with 6 stamens. From these ancestral states, several transitions occurred: towards hermaphroditism and dioecy and towards polyandry respectively. In order to initiate a research on a possible functional significance of increase in stamen number, we investigated the relationship between stamen number and pollen production, by extracting the total pollen content from flowers of 82 species. Our study showed a tendency towards higher pollen production when the number of stamen increases in two subfamilies. We also produced molecular phylogeny of a subtribe (Ptychospermatinae) in which the range of variation in stamen number is exceptional. Further investigations into genetic, developmental, ecology and pollination biology are needed.

Les adaptations florales à des pollinisateurs comme les changements de forme de la corolle entraînent souvent un isolement reproducteur et donc la spéciation. Malgré leur importance écologique, les mécanismes génétiques à l'origine de cette diversité de caractères sont encore mal compris, surtout en dehors des espèces modèles. L’objectif de mon projet de maîtrise était donc d'identifier les gènes impliqués dans la variation de la forme de la corolle entre deux espèces du genre Rhytidophyllum (famille des Gesneriaceae), qui ont des modes de pollinisation différents. La première, R. rupincola, a des fleurs tubulaires et est strictement pollinisée par les colibris, tandis que la seconde, R. auriculatum, a des fleurs plus ouvertes et est pollinisée par les colibris et les chauves-souris. Dans cette étude, nous avons fait une revue de littérature et utilisé une approche de transcriptomique comparative pour identifier des gènes candidats qui pourraient expliquer la variation de la forme florale entre R. auriculatum et R. rupincola. Nous avons ensuite testé leur association avec la variation de la forme de la corolle en utilisant la cartographie de loci de traits quantitatifs (QTLs) pour une population hybride F2. Les résultats ont montré que 7 des 29 gènes candidats étaient associés à 8 QTLs différents. La répartition et la fonction supposée de ces gènes suggèrent que la forme de la corolle est un trait complexe. Ce type d'étude est rarement entrepris chez des espèces non-modèles, mais il est important afin d'intégrer la génétique du développement floral dans une perspective évolutive. / Floral adaptations to specific pollinators like corolla shape changes often result in reproductive isolation and thus speciation. But despite their ecological importance, the genetic mechanisms behind this diversity of traits are still poorly understood, especially outside model species. Hence, our goal is to identify genes involved in corolla shape variation between two species of the Rhytidophyllum genus (Gesneriaceae family) from the West Indies, which is characterized by shifts in pollination modes during its evolution. The first one, R. rupincola, has a tubular corolla and is strictly pollinated by hummingbirds. The second one, R. auriculatum, has more open flowers and is pollinated by both hummingbirds and bats. We know from previous work that the variation in morphological floral traits between these species is explained by a few quantitative trait loci (QTLs) of moderate to small effect (Alexandre et al., 2015), but we still do not know which genes underly these loci. In this study, we surveyed the literature and used a comparative transcriptomic approach to identify candidate genes that could explain floral variation between R. auriculatum and R. rupincola. We then tested their association with corolla shape variation using QTL mapping for a F2 hybrid population. Results showed that 7 out of 29 candidate genes were included within 8 different QTL. The number, repartition and putative function of these genes suggest that corolla shape is a complex trait. This sort of investigation is rarely undertaken in non-model species, but is important to integrate developmental genetics with an evolutionary perspective.