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Please find below a summary of the project :
Ceropegia and Aristolochia are two plant genera that are phylogenetically distant but seem to share the same deceptive pollination syndrome : recent results show that flowers mimic the scent of crushed insects in order to attract flies that feed on exudates of insects attacked by predators. We will describe the convergent evolution of this specialized pollination syndrome and evaluate its extent by identifying pollinating flies and floral scents in several species of Ceropegia and Aristolochia. These two genera differ by the organisation of the pollen : free and abundant in Aristolochia and clumped in a reduced number of pollinia in Ceropegia. We will test the hypothesis that this organisation constrains sympatric species of Ceropegia to each attract specific pollinators to avoid loss of pollinia in flowers of the other species of the genus.
Here is the IEA’s scientific program :
