Flowers with long stems have an evolutionary advantage when it comes to attracting bat pollinators, according to new research. The study suggests that these elongated stems help the flowers stand out from the surrounding foliage, making them more visible to bats during their echolocation process.
The Bat’s Eye View
If you were a bat, flapping around in the dark after flying out over fields of sugar-drenched blossoms. The right target can be pretty tough to find in a forest of leaves and other flowers.
Yet as the new research shows, tall-stemmed flowers are doing a whole lot of accesing. The higher blossoms are out of the surrounding foliage and thus “acoustically conspicuous” to the bats, as they explained. When bats were presented with an intricate background, the researchers discovered that they needed almost twice as much time to find short stemmed flowers than long stemmed.
A smart evolutionary strategy to make sure the bats discover your flowers and help them pollinate. These higher-up flowers are essentially saying ‘Hey, bats! Look at me!’ in the echolingua.
A win-win dynamic
The mutualisms between bats and bat-pollinated flowers provide an intriguing case study in the evolutionary entanglement of two ecologically interdependent groups of organisms. The flowers are the major source of nectar and pollen for bats that fuel their ability to fly long distances in the dark.
The flowers, in exchange, rely on the mammals to transport the pollen from one plant to another leading to an effective reproduction. It is a textbook example of ‘you help me, I help you’, honed over millions of years.
In doing so, the flowers actually make it easier for their bat partners to locate and pollinate them by evolving longer stems. This adaptation reinforces the connection between both species, thereby securing success for both. It is a gorgeous illustration of how nature can nurture symbiotic relationships between organisms that ostensibly have very little to do with each other.
Conclusion
This study in bat-pollinated flowers with long stems is a great example of the kind of elaborate adaptations that can evolve from inter-sexual selection for mutualism. These flowers are increasing their discovery and pollination opportunities by making themselves more ‘visible’ to the bats through their extended stems, thereby securing all-important survival of the species. Just another part of the stunning complexity and beauty in mother nature.
