Plant biologists identify mechanism behind transition from insect to wind pollination

A new study by scientists at the University of Toronto (U of T) provides new insights into the causes and ways in which wind-borne plants advance from the ancestors of insect pollination.

Early seed plants relied on wind to carry pollen between plants, but about 100 million years ago, flowering plants evolved to attract insects that could transfer pollen more accurately than random airflow. Although insect pollination is more economical, many lineages have returned to wind transmission, prompting many biologists to question why this happens when insect pollination is successful. This apparent paradox has even puzzled Charles Darwin, and today little is known about the conditions under which this transition is initiated.

In a study published this month in the Royal Society's Journal B, the researchers first described a mechanism that drives this reversal, which involves the vibration of the stamen, the pollen organ of pollen.