Variation in bill morphology and pollen prevalence in the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (<i>Selasphorus platycercus</i>)
Abstract
We found that the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus) exhibits significant intraspecies variation across several morphological traits, including those important in foraging. However, the effects of these morphological variation on flower visitation is not well understood. To begin to understand the effects morphological variation on flower foraging, we quantified morphological variation across a total of 521 Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds across two summers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. We also quantified prevalence of Ipomopsis spp. pollen in this population in order to test for a link between variation in bill morphology and variation in Ipomopsis visitation. We found that females are significantly larger in full gape, exposed culem, bill width, bill depth, mandible width than males. There was no difference in curvature of bill and wing chord between males and females. We found a significant and positive association between bill length in males and the presence of Ipomopsis spp. pollen in males and a negative association between curvature and Ipomopsis spp. presence in both males and females. Overall, our analysis suggests that the considerable variation in bill traits in the Broad-Tailed Hummingbird at RMBL may be functionally important. These patterns may mirror patterns across hummingbird species, which show tight linkages between bill length and curvature and morphological traits of nectar plants.
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