Shifting Paradigms in the Mechanics of Nectar Extraction and Hummingbird Bill Morphology.

ABSTRACT: As functional morphologists, we aim to connect structures, mechanisms, and emergent higher-scale phenomena (e.g., behavior), with the ulterior motive of addressing evolutionary patterns. The fit between flowers and hummingbird bills has long been used as an example of impressive co-evolution, and hence hummingbirds' foraging behavior and ecological associations have been the subject of intense study. To date, models of hummingbird foraging have been based on the almost two-centuries-old assumption that capillary rise loads nectar into hummingbird tongue grooves. Furthermore, the role of the bill in the drinking process has been overlooked, instead considering it as the mere vehicle with which to traverse the corolla and access the nectar chamber. As a scientific community, we have been mak

SUBMITTER: Rico-Guevara A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7671138 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature