High proportion of smaller ranged hummingbird species coincides with ecological specialization across the Americas.

ABSTRACT: Ecological communities that experience stable climate conditions have been speculated to preserve more specialized interspecific associations and have higher proportions of smaller ranged species (SRS). Thus, areas with disproportionally large numbers of SRS are expected to coincide geographically with a high degree of community-level ecological specialization, but this suggestion remains poorly supported with empirical evidence. Here, we analysed data for hummingbird resource specialization, range size, contemporary climate, and Late Quaternary climate stability for 46 hummingbird-plant mutualistic networks distributed across the Americas, representing 130 hummingbird species (ca 40% of all hummingbird species). We demonstrate a positive relationship between the proportion of SRS of hummi

SUBMITTER: Sonne J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4760165 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature