Flowers of the Red Mistletoe Attract Specific Pollinators

photograph of reddish-orange flowers and green leaves on tree

Biological Strategy

Red mistletoe

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Protect From Animals

Animals–organisms that range from microscopic to larger than a bus–embody a wide variety of harms to living systems, including other animals. They threaten through predation, herbivory, defense, and parasitism, and they compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and space. Any given living organism commonly faces threats from a variety of animals, requiring strategies that effectively defend from each. Trout and other bony fish, for example, escape predators by having scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone covered with slippery mucus. They also have behavioral strategies such as camouflage, fast swimming, and twisting and turning to achieve release from a predator’s grip.

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Cooperate/Compete Between Different Species

From parasitism to mutualisms, there are endless interactions between organisms in nature. Interactions between species that lead to a negative outcome for one species are known as competition. Cooperation occurs when organisms work together for the benefit of each organism or species. While competition often occurs over resources or mates, the more biologists have begun to look for examples of cooperation in nature, the more they have found. For example, around 90% of plants have a beneficial partnership with fungi. Fungi provide the plant with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in exchange for sugars from the plant.

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Pollinate

One of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds that contain the genetic information to produce a new plant. Seeds can only be produced when pollen grains reach the hidden ovaries within a flower. Flowers have developed wildly diverse forms and activities, such as the production of sweet nectar to attract organisms such as bees and butterflies, that move from flower to flower, transferring pollen. Flowers will also adapt to make use of environmental influences such as wind and water as pollinators.

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Disperse Seeds

Plants disperse their seeds using a variety of mechanisms, including wind, rain, and attachment to animals. Seed dispersal can be important if plants growing too close together will compete for resources, such as nutrients and sunlight. Since plants are literally rooted in place, seed dispersal is also an important mechanism for expanding their range or reaching new environments.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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The flowers of the red mistletoe protect from unwanted visitors by utilizing a pollinator-specific design.

Many plants have a symbiotic relationship with birds, where birds extract nectar from the flowers of plants, and while doing so transfer pollen between flowers, helping to cross-pollinate them.

While many plants open their flowers in order to maximize the number of visitors, the red mistletoe of New Zealand has closed flowers that can only be opened by two birds, the tui and the bellbird. When the bird goes to get the nectar the flower “pops” open, showering pollen all over the bird, ensuring that it will carry pollen to the next mistletoe it visits.

This relationship between the red mistletoe and the tui and bellbird is mutually beneficial. The ripe sealed flower of the mistletoe signals to the birds that the nectar inside has not been eaten by another bird. This reduces the amount of time the birds have to spend foraging. The tui and bellbirds are therefore more likely to visit mistletoes over other plant species, because they know they will consistently receive nectar. This increases the chances of successful cross-pollination for the mistletoe.

This strategy was contributed by Paige Kuplic and Seth GaleWyrick.

Image: Sid Mosdell / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

The Bellbird on red mistletoe

Image: Marj Kibby / flickr.com /

Image: Sid Mosdell / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

Tui, one of New Zealand's native honeyeaters, are important pollinators of native forest flowers.

Last Updated February 14, 2019

References

“One of the tropical species of mistletoe keeps its bright red flowers slightly closed until it is visited by a thirsty and inquisitive bird. Its visitor knows how to open them and inserts its beak into a slit in the bud. Immediately, the bud springs open and a battery of anthers flip down and strike the bird’s forehead.” (Attenborough 1995:117)

Book

The Private Life of Plants

21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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Reference

“This suggests how explosive opening could have evolved. Birds benefit by being able to forage more efficiently, because buds have not had their nectar harvested by any other bird (or insect): tamper-proof twist-top fast food for birds. The mistletoe may benefit through more faithful pollinator attention” (Ladley 1995: 1).

Journal article

Explosive New Zealand mistletoe

Nature 378(6559): 766 | 01/01/1995 | Ladley JJ, Kelly D.

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