Abstract
In the history of life, the first interactions between plants and pollinators were almost concomitant with the appearance of flowering plants, or even preceded it. Through natural selection mechanisms, they led to the evolution of traits that favored interaction, in both plants and pollinators : production of food resources for pollinators, such as nectar and pollen, associated with colors and odors that make flowers detectable and attractive, learning capacities that enable pollinators to find and exploit resources, matching of floral morphologies and pollinator mouthparts... These interactions have also led to the diversification of plants and certain groups of pollinators, and to cases of very strong specialization, where one plant species depends on a single pollinator for its reproduction, and vice versa. This fine example of mutualism, i.e. interaction with reciprocal benefits, does not, however, rule out cheating in plants and pollinators alike.
