| Title: | Fruit scent as an honest signal for fruit quality |
| Author(s): | Nevo O; Valenta K; Helman A; Ganzhorn JU; Ayasse M; |
| Address: | "German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. omer.nevo@evolutioanry-ecology.de. Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany. omer.nevo@evolutioanry-ecology.de. Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany. omer.nevo@evolutioanry-ecology.de. Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Animal Ecology and Conservation, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany" |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12862-022-02064-z |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2730-7182 (Electronic) 2730-7182 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: Fleshy fruits evolved to be attractive to seed dispersers through various signals such as color and scent. Signals can evolve through different trajectories and have various degrees of reliability. The strongest substrate on which reliable signals can evolve is when there is an inherent link between signal and reward, rendering cheating costly or impossible. It was recently proposed that aliphatic esters in fruit scent may be predictive of sugar content due to their synthesis from products of sugar fermentation. We test this hypothesis on a case study of wild fig species (Ficus tiliifolia) from Madagascar, which relies on seed dispersal by lemurs. RESULTS: We found a strong positive correlation between signal (esters) and reward (sugar). We also found that non-esters, including direct fermentation products, in fruit scent do not indicate sugar levels, which implies that this relationship is not simply a product of fruit maturation wherein more mature fruits emit more scent and contain more sugar. CONCLUSIONS: While based on a single taxon, these results strongly support the hypothesis that a biochemical link between ester synthesis and sugar may render the ester fraction of fruit scent an honest signal for fruit quality, with consequences for animal sensory and feeding ecology, and the evolution of plants in the context of seed dispersal" |
| Keywords: | Animals Humans Odorants Fruit Reproducibility of Results Pheromones Esters *Lemuridae *Lemur Sugars Animal-plant communications Coevolution Frugivory Honest signaling Seed dispersal; |
| Notes: | "MedlineNevo, Omer Valenta, Kim Helman, Annabella Ganzhorn, Jorg U Ayasse, Manfred eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2022/12/01 BMC Ecol Evol. 2022 Nov 30; 22(1):139. doi: 10.1186/s12862-022-02064-z" |
