Dilute bird nectars: Viscosity constrains food intake by licking in a sunbird

American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology

Volumn 299, Issue 4, 2010, Pages

  Köhler, Angela ^a   Leseigneur, Carolina D C ^a   Verburgt, Luke ^a   Nicolson, Susan W ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Nectarivory; Sugar concentration

Indexed keywords

METHYLCELLULOSE; SUGAR; METHYLETHYLCELLULOSE; SOLUTION AND SOLUBILITY; SUCROSE;

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; ANIMAL EXPERIMENT; ANIMAL TISSUE; ARTICLE; BIRD; CONTROLLED STUDY; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; FEMALE; FOOD INTAKE; INGESTION; LICKING; MALE; NECTAR; NONHUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SUGAR INTAKE; TONGUE; VISCOSITY; ANALOGS AND DERIVATIVES; ANATOMY AND HISTOLOGY; ANIMAL; CHEMISTRY; DIET; EATING; PHYSIOLOGY; SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; SOLUTION AND SOLUBILITY; SONGBIRD;

ANIMALS; DIET; EATING; METHYLCELLULOSE; MICROSCOPY, ELECTRON, SCANNING; PASSERIFORMES; SOLUTIONS; SUCROSE; TONGUE; VISCOSITY;

EID: 77957593709     PISSN: 03636119     EISSN: 15221490     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00208.2010     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Baker HG. Sugar concentrations in nectars from hummingbird flowers. Biotropica 7: 37-41, 1975.
2. Borrell BJ. Mechanics of nectar feeding in the orchid bee Euglossa imperialis: pressure, viscosity and flow. J Exp Biol 209: 4901-4907, 2006.
3. Borrell BJ. Scaling of nectar foraging in orchid bees. Am Nat 169: 569-580, 2007.
4. Botes C, Johnson SD, Cowling RM. Coexistence of succulent tree aloes: partitioning of bird pollinators by floral traits and flowering phenology. Oikos 117: 875-882, 2008.
5. Brown M, Downs CT, Johnson S. Sugar preferences of nectar feeding birds? A comparison of techniques. J Avian Biol 39: 479-483, 2008.
6. Cheke RA, Mann CF, Allen R. Sunbirds: A Guide to the Sunbirds, Flowerpeckers, Spiderhunters and Sugarbirds of the World. London: Christopher Helm, 2001.
7. Collins BG. Nectar intake and foraging efficiency: responses of honeyeaters and hummingbirds to variations in floral environments. Auk 125: 574-587, 2008.
8. Collins BG, Cary G, Packard G. Energy assimilation, expenditure and storage by the brown honeyeater, Lichmera indistincta. J Comp Physiol B 137: 157-163, 1980.
9. Downs CT. Some preliminary results of studies on the bill and tongue morphology of Gurney's Sugarbird and some southern African sunbirds. Ostrich 75: 169-175, 2004.
10. Ewald PW, Williams WA. Function of the bill and tongue in nectar uptake by hummingbirds. Auk 99: 573-576, 1982.
11. Falibene A, Josens R. Nectar intake rate is modulated by changes in sucking pump activity according to colony starvation in carpenter ants. J Comp Physiol A 194: 491-500, 2008.
12. Fleming PA, Hartmann Bakken B, Lotz CN, Nicolson SW. Concentration and temperature effects on sugar intake and preferences in a sunbird and a hummingbird. Funct Ecol 18: 223-232, 2004.
13. Gass CL, Roberts WM. The problem of temporal scale in optimization: three contrasting views of hummingbird visits to flowers. Am Nat 140: 829-853, 1992.
14. Hainsworth FR. On the tongue of a hummingbird: its role in the rate and energetics of feeding. Comp Biochem Physiol A 46: 65-78, 1973.
15. Heyneman AJ. Optimal sugar concentrations of floral nectars - dependence on sugar intake efficiency and foraging costs. Oecologia 60: 198-213, 1983.
16. Hollowood TA, Linforth RST, Taylor AJ. The effect of viscosity on the perception of flavour. Chem Senses 27: 583-591, 2002.
17. Johnson SD, Nicolson SW. Evolutionary associations between nectar properties and specificity in bird pollination systems. Biol Lett 4: 49-52, 2008.
18. Johnson SD, Pauw A, Midgley J. Rodent pollination in the African lily Massonia depressa (Hyacinthaceae). Am J Bot 88: 1768-1773, 2001.
19. Josens RB, Farina WM. Nectar feeding by the hovering hawk moth Macroglossum stellatarum: intake rate as a function of viscosity and concentration of sucrose solutions. J Comp Physiol A 187: 661-665, 2001.
20. Kingsolver JG, Daniel TL. Mechanical determinants of nectar feeding strategy in hummingbirds: energetics, tongue morphology, and licking behaviour. Oecologia 60: 214-226, 1983.
21. Kingsolver JG, Daniel TL. Mechanics of food handling by fluid-feeding insects. In: Regulatory Mechanisms in Insect Feeding, edited by Chapman RF and De Boer G. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1995, p. 32-73.
22. Köhler A, Verburgt L, Fleming PA, Nicolson SW. Changes in nectar concentration: how quickly do whitebellied sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) adjust feeding patterns and food intake? J Comp Physiol B 178: 785-793, 2008.
23. Köhler A, Verburgt L, Nicolson SW. Short-term feeding patterns of whitebellied sunbirds (Nectarinia talatala): feeding frequency, daily rhythms and individual differences. J Exp Biol 209: 2880-2887, 2006.
24. Leseigneur CDC, Nicolson SW. Nectar concentration preferences and sugar intake in the white-bellied sunbird, Cinnyris talatala (Nectariniidae). J Comp Physiol B 179: 673-679, 2009.
25. Mathlouthi M, Génotelle J. Rheological properties of sucrose solutions and suspensions. In: Sucrose Properties and Applications, edited by Mathlouthi M and Reiser P. London: Blackie Academic & Professional, 1995, p. 126-154.
26. Medan V, Josens RB. Nectar foraging behaviour is affected by ant body size in Camponotus mus. J Insect Physiol 51: 853-860, 2005.
27. Mitchell RJ, Paton DC. Effects of nectar volume and concentration on sugar intake rates of Australian honeyeaters (Meliphagidae). Oecologia 83: 238-246, 1990.
28. Montgomerie RD. Nectar extraction by hummingbirds: response to different floral characters. Oecologia 63: 229-236, 1984.
29. Nicolson SW. Nectar consumers In: Nectaries and Nectar, edited by Nicolson SW, Nepi M and Pacini E. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2007, p. 289-342.
30. Nicolson SW. Pollination by passerine birds: why are the nectars so dilute? Comp Biochem Physiol B 131: 645-652, 2002.
31. Nicolson SW, Fleming PA. Energy balance in the Whitebellied Sunbird Nectarinia talatala: constraints on compensatory feeding, and consumption of supplementary water. Funct Ecol 17: 3-9, 2003.
32. Nicolson SW, Thornburg RW. Nectar chemistry. In: Nectaries and Nectar, edited by Nicolson SW, Nepi M and Pacini E. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2007, p. 215-264.
33. Paton DC, Collins BG. Bills and tongues of nectar-feeding birds: A review of morphology, function and performance, with intercontinental comparisons. Aust J Ecol 14: 473-506, 1989.
34. Pivnick KA, McNeil JN. Effects of nectar concentration on butterfly feeding: measured feeding rates for Thymelicus lineola (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) and a general feeding model for adult Lepidoptera. Oecologia 66: 226-237, 1985.
35. Pyke GH, Waser NM. The production of dilute nectars by hummingbird and honeyeater flowers. Biotropica 13: 260-270, 1981.
36. Roberts WM. Hummingbird licking behaviour and the energetics of nectar feeding. Auk 112: 456-463, 1995.
37. Sazima M, Vogel S, do Prado AL, de Oliveira DM, Franz G, Sazima I. The sweet jelly of Combretum lanceolatum flowers (Combretaceae): a cornucopia resource for bird pollinators in the Pantanal, western Brazil. Plant Syst Evol 227: 195-208, 2001.
38. Schlamowitz R, Hainsworth FR, Wolf LL. On the tongues of sunbirds. Condor 78: 104-107, 1976.
39. Stromberg MR, Johnsen PB. Hummingbird sweetness preferences: taste or viscosity? Condor 92: 606-612, 1990.
40. Tamm S, Gass CL. Energy intake rates and nectar concentration preferences by hummingbirds. Oecologia 70: 20-23, 1986.
41. Telis VRN, Telis-Romero J, Mazzotti HB, Gabas AL. Viscosity of aqueous carbohydrate solutions at different temperatures and concentrations. Int J Food Prop 10: 185-195, 2007.
42. Tezze AA, Farina WM. Trophallaxis in the honeybee, Apis mellifera: the interaction between viscosity and sucrose concentration of the transferred solution. Anim Behav 57: 1319-1326, 1999.
43. Vogel S. Life in Moving Fluids: The Physical Biology of Flow. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.
44. Weast RC. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics: A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 1985.
45. Zar JH. Biostatistical Analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.