MountBuzz started in October 2024 and we are still in the phase of field data collection on all four elevational gradients. The first field season in 2025 was very successful, yielding data on pollination and reproductive strategies for 100 Melastomataceae species! In 2026, we are filling gaps in last year’s dataset, adding more species and running additional pollination experiments (single visit experiments, artificial vibration experiments – check out the blog to learn more!). We expect the first publications from this project to start coming in this year, with a first one already out:
Dellinger AS. 2026. Ecological change may be a common initiator of evolutionary pollinator shifts. New Phytologist. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.71170
If you want to read more about Melastomataceae and the ecological mechanisms and evolutionary patterns PI Dellinger and colleagues have investigated in the past years, you can check out the following publications:
General pollination biology of Melastomataceae:
Dellinger AS, Kopper C, Kagerl K, Schönenberger J. 2022. Pollination in Melastomataceae: a family-wide update on the little we know and the much that remains to be discovered. In: Systematics, Evolution and Ecology of Melastomataceae. Goldenberg R, Almeda F, Michelangeli FA (eds.), Springer.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-99742-7_26
Ecogeography of plant-pollinator interactions:
Dellinger AS, Pérez-Barrales R, Michelangeli FA, Penneys DS, Fernández-Fernández DM, Schönenberger J. 2021. Low bee visitation rates explain pollinator shifts to vertebrates in tropical mountains. New Phytologist.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17390
Dellinger AS, Hamilton AM, Wessinger CA, Smith SD. 2023. Opposing patterns of altitude-driven pollinator turnover in the tropical and temperate Americas. American Naturalist.
https://doi.org/10.1086/725017
Pollination syndromes/floral traits:
Dellinger AS, Chartier M, Fernández-Fernández D, Penneys DS, Alvear M, Almeda F, Michelangeli FA, Staedler Y, Armbruster WS, Schönenberger J. 2019. Beyond buzz-pollination – departures from an adaptive plateau lead to new pollination syndromes. New Phytologist.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15468
Kopper C, Schönenberger J, Dellinger AS. 2024. High floral disparity without pollinator shifts in buzz-pollinated Melastomataceae. New Phytologist.
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19735
Specific pollination systems in Melastomataceae:
Dellinger AS, Scheer LM, Artuso S, Fernández-Fernández D, Sornoza F, Penneys DS, Tenhaken R, Dötterl S, Schönenberger J. 2019. Bimodal pollination systems in Andean Melastomataceae involving birds, bats and rodents. American Naturalist.
https://doi.org/10.1086/703517
Dellinger AS, Penneys DS, Städler YM, Fragner L, Weckwerth W, Schönenberger J. 2014. A specialized bird pollination system with a bellows mechanism for pollen transfer and staminal food body rewards. Current Biology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.05.056