Abstract
Floral scent has been suggested to play a key role in the obligate pollination mutualism between yuccas and yucca moths. We analyzed floral fragrance compounds of Yucca elata with headspace collection followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and compared the odor blend with the recently characterized blend of the allopatric Yucca filamentosa. A principal component analysis based on 20 scent compounds revealed that the floral odor bouquets of Y. elata and Y. filamentosa are virtually identical. Although the two plants belong to the same section of capsular-fruited yuccas, they rely on different species of Tegeticula moths for pollination and probably have been allopatric for several million years. Yet, their floral odor blends are very similar, which may indicate that strong selection by obligate pollinators counteracts drift or divergence in this trait.
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Acknowledgements
Permission to collect floral scent was kindly provided by Big Bend National Park. We thank Michael Hickman for providing technical assistance. We also thank Jette Knudsen, Lina Kristoffersen, Wen Qi Rosén, Christian Olsson, Maria Strandh, and two anonymous reviewers who gave valuable comments on the manuscript. This project was supported by a grant from the Wenner–Gren Foundations in Sweden (postdoctoral fellowship) to GPS; NSF grant DEB-0317217 to RAR; and NSF grants DEB-0075944, DEB-0075803, and DEB-0516841 to OP.
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Svensson, G.P., Pellmyr, O. & Raguso, R.A. Strong Conservation of Floral Scent Composition in Two Allopatric Yuccas. J Chem Ecol 32, 2657–2665 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9189-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9189-6