Pollinator-mediated interactions between a pathogenic fungus, Uromyces pisi (Pucciniaceae), and its host plant, Euphorbia cyparissias (Euphorbiaceae)

The plant Euphorbia cyparissias is commonly infected by rust fungi of the species complex Uromyces pisi. When infected, E. cyparissias is unable to flower. but instead is induced by the fungus to form pseudoflowers. Pseudoflowers are rosettes of yellow leaves upon which the fungus presents its gametes in a sweet-smelling fungal nectar. We hypothesized that the fungi, as they are heterothallic, are dependent on insect visitation to cross-fertilize their mating types. We confirmed that insects are required with an insect exclusion experiment. We further hypothesized that pseudoflowers of U. pisi interact with uninfected true host Rowers through insects during their period of co-"flowering" in early spring. We conducted artificial array experiments in the field to test whether the two species share insects and whether they influenced each other's insect visitation. Insects moved between true Bowers and pseudoflowers, but true flowers received more visits over all. Pseudoflowers and true Rowers did not influence each other's visitation rates in mixtures. However, shorter visits were observed on pseudoflowers in mixtures than monocultures, suggesting that true flowers might be competitors for pseudoflowers. Further experiments are needed to determine whether the similarity of pseudoflowers to true Bowers is adaptive.