Hovering sunbirds in the Old World: occasional behaviour or evolutionary trend?

0357569 - BÚ 2011 RIV DK eng J - Journal Article
Janeček, Štěpán - Patáčová, Eliška - Bartoš, Michael - Padyšáková, Eliška - Spitzer, Lukáš - Tropek, Robert
Hovering sunbirds in the Old World: occasional behaviour or evolutionary trend?
Oikos. Roč. 120, č. 2 (2011), s. 178-183. ISSN 0030-1299. E-ISSN 1600-0706
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA601410709; GA AV ČR KJB601110703; GA ČR GD206/08/H044
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516; CEZ:AV0Z50070508
Keywords : coevolution * sunbirds * hovering
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 3.061, year: 2011

The nectarivory of sunbirds in the Old World and hummingbirds in the New World evolved independently. While both groups are specialised in their feeding apparatuses, hummingbirds are moreover famous for their adaptations to sustained hovering flight. Recently, an example of a pollination system of the invasive plant Nicotiana glauca has been used to show that less adapted sunbirds also are frequently able to hover. Nevertheless, the question has remained why plants adapted to bird hovering pollination do not occur outside the New World. In this paper we show that the long-peduncle Cameroonian Impatiens sakeriana is not capable of autonomous selfing and can be pollinated only by two often hovering sunbirds, the Cameroon sunbird Cyanomitra oritis and the northern double-collared sunbird Cinnyris reichenowi. Our study revealed that this plant is highly specialised for pollination by C. oritis.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0195814