Hummingbirds at artificial flowers made to resemble ornithophiles versus melittophiles

摘要: Certain floral characteristics are associated with specific pollinators. Hummingbird-pollinated flowers usually red, lack a landing platform, nectar guides, and contain high amount of dilute sucrose-rich nectar. Here we test hypotheses concerning the reasons for these characters to extent that they involve hummingbird responses. An array was set up 16 artificial plants, each five flowers. (1) Flowers made differ only in colour elicited slight preference red. (2) When offerings, birds generally learned visit provided much more but did not associatively learn differences as little 2 µL. (3) Birds were offered 8 µL 12% sucrose versus 48% hexose, prefer nectar; showed no evidence discerning from hexose; however, preferred over when both same quantity. (4) lacked platforms those platforms. (5) differing volumes, associate higher reward either flower type. In summary, feedback hummingbirds reflects some between bird- bee-adapted flowers, seemed less predictive than expected. Factors other behavioural proclivities hummingbirds, such adaptation discourage bees, discussed additional causes syndromes. We also discuss significance testing field experiments involving one unreplicated array. Editors’ comment: The authors reviewers disagreed about aspects experimental design (e.g. necessity marking individual birds) how data should be treated analysing first visits including all data).  On balance editors decided publication this study gives readers opportunity make their own minds results presented.