COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION IN HUMMINGBIRDS - RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MORPHOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION IN HUMMINGBIRDS - RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MORPHOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
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作者：
BROWN, JH;BOWERS, MA
栖息在有限地理区域的蜂鸟物种表现出的形态模式，显着不同的空模型，其中物种是随机选择适当的物种池预测。温度北美蜂鸟是收敛的：更相似的法案长度，体重，和翅膀长度比几个零模型预测。这些温度物种之间的相似性也比它们与亚热带和热带栖息地的更密切相关（同源）物种之间的相似性更高。大安的列斯群岛和小安的列斯群岛的蜂鸟在岛屿之间显示出非随机的物种分布：所有蜂鸟居住的岛屿至少有2种。它们分为两种不同的尺寸喙长与体重的异速生长比例是独特的安的列斯群岛蜂鸟;喙长增加更迅速地增加，随着体重的增加，在西印度群岛蜂鸟比随机样本的蜂鸟的世界或其他鸟类。这些形态模式似乎反映了两个生态过程：蜂鸟之间的种间竞争和与花的互利共生的共同进化。形态相似的蜂鸟物种使用相似的花卉资源，但很少在同一地区共存。形态各异的物种利用不同的食物资源，并经常在当地共存。喙的长度会影响到对不同种类花朵的获取，在这些简单的蜂鸟协会的组织中尤为重要。
Hummingbird species inhabiting restricted geographic regions exhibit morphological patterns that differ significantly from those predicted by null models in which species are selected at random from appropriate species pools. Temperature North American hummingbirds are convergent: more similar in bill length, body weight, and wing length than predicted by several null models. These temperature species also are more similar to each other than they are to more closely related (congeneric) species from subtropical and tropical habitats. Hummingbirds of the Greater and Lesser Antilles show a nonrandom distribution of species among islands: all islands inhabited by hummingbirds have at least 2 spp. and these fall into 2 distinctly different size categories. Allometric scaling of bill length with respect to body mass is distinctive in Antillean hummingbirds; bill length increases more rapidly with increasing body weight in West Indian hummingbirds than in random samples of hummingbirds of the world or in other birds. These morphological patterns appear to reflect 2 ecological processes: interspecific competition among hummingbirds and mutualistic coevolution with flowers. Hummingbird species of similar morphology use similar floral resources but rarely coexist in the same local areas. Species of divergent morphology exploit different food resources and frequently coexist locally. Length of the bill, which influences access to different kinds of flowers, is particularly important in the organization of these simple hummingbird associations.