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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070423-gecko.html<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Gecko
Pollinators Help "Save" Rare Flower<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Scott Norris<br>
for <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com">National Geographic News</a></span></font></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>April 23, 2007</span></font></b> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>On the <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">island</st1:PlaceType> of <a
href="http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_mauritius.html">Mauritius</a>
in the <st1:place w:st="on">Indian Ocean</st1:place>, a brilliant green
lizard and a palmlike shrub are helping to save a rare flowering plant from
extinction. <br>
<br>
The naturally occurring conservation partnership features the lizard—a
species known as the blue-tailed day gecko—in an unusual role,
researchers say: The lizard is the key pollinator of the threatened <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia</span></i> flower.<br>
<br>
The shrubby <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Pandanus</span></i> plant does
its part by providing the lizard a safe haven from predators as it performs
pollinations, according to a new study. <br>
<br>
Although insects also visited the <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia</span></i>
flowers, the research team found that the bugs did not carry much pollen from
one blossom to another, proving the gecko is the main pollinator.<br>
<br>
"An animal may visit flowers often, eating pollen or nectar, but not
provide a good pollination service," said study leader Dennis Hansen of
the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Zurich</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Switzerland</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<br>
<br>
"Our study is one of the few to provide evidence that lizards can indeed
be efficient pollinators."<br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Lizard Stand-In</span></b><br>
<br>
Previously, a nectar-sipping bird called the olive white-eye pollinated <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia,</span></i> but the bird is nearly
extinct. <br>
<br>
Researchers say the flower's survival now largely depends on visits from the
5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) gecko. <br>
<br>
Like the birds, the geckos visit <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia</span></i>
plants to harvest nectar produced by the flowers. In the process they
transfer pollen from one blossom to another. <br>
<br>
But by venturing out on the exposed blossoms, geckos risk becoming lunch for
the Mauritian kestrel, a type of falcon that preys on lizards. Safety for the
gecko lies in dense, nearly impenetrable thickets of <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Pandanus</span></i> plants growing around the
flowers. <br>
<br>
Hansen's team found that <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia</span></i>
flowers growing close to <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Pandanus</span></i>
patches received the lion's share of gecko visitations. <br>
<br>
These flowers were able to bear fruit and reproduce, the researchers said,
while those located farther from <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Pandanus</span></i>
plants often did not. <br>
<br>
The team's findings, which appear in the April edition of the journal <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>The American Naturalist,</span></i> add to the
growing number of examples of lizard pollination.<br>
<br>
So far, almost all known cases occur on oceanic islands. <br>
<br>
Jens Olesen, of the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Aarhus</st1:PlaceName> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Denmark</st1:place></st1:country-region>, is an expert on the
little-studied phenomenon. <br>
<br>
Olesen has assembled data showing that of more than 4,300 lizard species,
only 71 are known to feed on flower nectar and, in the process, provide
pollination services. <br>
<br>
"Ninety-five percent of the flower-visiting lizard species are from
islands," Olesen said. <br>
<br>
Olesen and colleagues have suggested that a shortage of insects for the
lizards to eat on remote islands may be what causes some species to become
fruit- and nectar-eaters. <br>
<br>
And Joan Roughgarden, an ecologist at <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Stanford</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:State>, thinks lizard pollination
might evolve in island communities because pollinating birds and insects are
in short supply. <br>
<br>
"Lizards are available and other pollinators are not," Roughgarden
said. "Bird faunas are usually [smaller] on islands, whereas lizards may
be more abundant than on the mainland." <br>
<br>
(Related news: <a
href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060721-bee-study.html">"Buzz
Kill: Wild Bees and Flowers Disappearing, Study Says"</a> [July 21,
2006].)<br>
<br>
Some island plants may even have special adaptations for attracting lizard
pollinators. <br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Nectar of a Different Color</span></b><br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Trochetia</span></i> flowers on <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mauritius</st1:place></st1:country-region> had
puzzled scientists by producing nectar that is yellow or red in color. The
nectar produced by almost all other flowers is clear. <br>
<br>
In a separate paper last year, Hansen and colleagues said they had solved
that mystery. Their experimental tests showed that colored nectar is an
effective lure for enticing geckos to visit blossoms. <br>
<br>
Hansen's team is now studying another rare Mauritian flower that appears to
rely on geckos not only for pollination but also for seed dispersal. <br>
<br>
"For both processes, the plants growing closer to <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Pandanus</span></i> do better than ones further
away," Hansen said. <br>
<br>
Similar chains of positive interactions involving cover-providing plants and
pollinating lizards may be widespread in island communities, he noted. <br>
<br>
Maintaining such relationships may become increasingly important as native
bird pollinators continue to decline and disappear. <br>
<br>
"For island conservation management, the major take-home message is the
need to promote habitat structural diversity, which provides [the foundation
for] lizard-mediated interactions."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color="#004000" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:#004000'>Jennifer Tsang<br>
<a href="http://coevolution.org">Coevolution Institute</a><br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">423 Washington St.</st1:address></st1:Street>
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