Dr Carlos Martel
Research Fellow
Department
Team
Specialism
Pollination ecology, chemical ecology, floral evolution, plant-insect interactions, insect-insect interactions, insect pheromones, Orchidaceae, Telipogon.
The enormous diversity of extant flowering plants might be the result, at least partially, of plant adaption to pollinators (i.e. pollinator specialization), which seems to have driven rapid diversification in many plant groups.
This link between pollinator specialization and high diversity seems to be especially true in the tropics, where population densities of pollinators are usually low, which increases the selective pressure of pollinators on the diverse characteristics of the flowers.
Thus, plants evolved jointly variable floral traits such as floral scent, colour and shape to attract and be pollinated by a given type of pollinator (i.e. the pollination syndromes).
These floral traits have been extensively used to predict the pollinator guild identity of diverse plant groups, especially those highly diverse taxa in which pollination studies are still insufficient such as representatives of the speciose families Gesneriaceae and Orchidaceae.
My research aims to assess the role of floral traits, especially floral scent, in the evolution of specialized pollination systems and plant diversification. My main current research is focused on linking floral trait evolution with plant diversification in the species-rich plant families Gesneriaceae and Orchidaceae. To do so, I am collecting and analysing floral scent composition, colour reflectance as well as morphometric data.
I am also interested in understanding how pollinators and plants depend on each other and how floral cues are mediating these associations. Therefore, I am conducting field observations, chemical analyses and behavioural experiments to unveil the role of floral traits, including nectar and pollen chemistry, in the pollination of UK native plants such as bryony plants, linden trees and orchids.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, East Tennessee State University, 2021-2022
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2018-2021
- Dr Natural Sciences, Universität Ulm, 2018
- BSc Life Sciences, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2008
Martel C., Rakosy D., Romero P.E., Jersáková J. & Ayasse M. (2021).
The evolution of tachinid pollination in Neotinea ustulata is related to floral cuticular composition and the combined high relative production of (Z)-11-C23/C25enes.
Journal of Systematics and Evolution
Martel C., Rakosy D., Dötterl S., et al. (2021)
Specialization for tachinid fly pollination in the phenologically divergent varieties of the orchid Neotinea ustulata.
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 659176.
Martel C., Neubig K., Williams W.N. & Ayasse M. (2020).
The uncinate viscidum and floral setae, an evolutionary innovation and exaptation to increase pollination success in the Telipogon alliance.
Organisms Diversity & Evolution 20: 537-550.
Martel C., Francke W. & Ayasse M. (2019).
The chemical and visual bases of the pollination of the Neotropical sexually deceptive orchid Telipogon peruvianus.
New Phytologist 223: 1989-2001.
Valenta K., Nevo O., Martel C. & Chapman C.A. (2017).
Plant attractants: integrating insights from seed dispersal and pollination ecology.
Evolutionary Ecology 31: 249-267.
Martel C., Cairampoma L., Stauffer F.W. & Ayasse M. (2016)
Telipogon (Orchidaceae) flowers elicit pre-mating behaviour in Eudejeania (Tachinidae) males for pollination.
PLoS ONE 11: e0165896.