Trait evolution, resource specialization and vulnerability to plant extinctions among Antillean hummingbirds

Author(s):Show less -

Dalsgaard, Bo ^[1] ; Kennedy, Jonathan D. ^[1] ; Simmons, Benno I. ^[2] ; Baquero, Andrea C. ^[1] ; Gonzalez, Ana M. Martin ^[1] ; Timmermann, Allan ^[3] ; Maruyama, Pietro K. ^[4] ; McGuire, Jimmy A. ^{[5, 6]} ; Ollerton, Jeff ^[7] ; Sutherland, William J. ^[2] ; Rahbek, Carsten ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Copenhagen, Nat Hist Museum Denmark, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, Univ Pk 15, DK-21000 Copenhagen O - Denmark

^[2] Univ Cambridge, Dept Zool, Conservat Sci Grp, Downing St, Cambridge CB2 3EJ - England

^[3] Aarhus Univ, Dept Biosci, Sect Ecoinformat & Biodivers, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C - Denmark

^[4] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Inst Biol, Dept Plant Biol, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Calif Berkeley, Museum Vertebrate Zool, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA

^[6] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Integrat Biol, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA

^[7] Univ Northampton, Fac Arts Sci & Technol, Northampton NN2 61D - England

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; v. 285, n. 1875 MAR 28 2018.
• Web of Science Citations: 10

Abstract

Species traits are thought to predict feeding specialization and the vulnerability of a species to extinctions of interaction partners, but the context in which a species evolved and currently inhabits may also matter. Notably, the predictive power of traits may require that traits evolved to fit interaction partners. Furthermore, local abiotic and biotic conditions may be important. On islands, for instance, specialized and vulnerable species are predicted to be found mainly in mountains, whereas species in lowlands should be generalized and less vulnerable. We evaluated these predictions for hummingbirds and their nectar-food plants on Antillean islands. Our results suggest that the rates of hummingbird trait divergence were higher among ancestral mainland forms before the colonization of the Antilles. In correspondence with the limited trait evolution that occurred within the Antilles, local abiotic and biotic conditions not species traits correlate with hummingbird resource specialization and the vulnerability of hummingbirds to extinctions of their floral resources. Specifically, hummingbirds were more specialized and vulnerable in conditions with high topographical complexity, high rainfall, low temperatures and high floral resource richness, which characterize the Antillean Mountains. These findings show that resource specialization and species vulnerability to extinctions of interaction partners are highly context-dependent. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/21457-4 - Linking macroecological patterns in ecological networks to functional traits of species: plant-hummingbird networks across the Americas
• Grantee: Pietro Kiyoshi Maruyama Mendonça
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral