Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A test of pollinator specificity and morphological convergence between nectarivorous birds and rainforest tree flowers in New Guinea

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Interactions between flowering trees in a representative sample of vegetation, and the birds that fed at their flowers, were studied for 2 years in lowland tropical hill forest in New Guinea. All 2,200 trees in a 3-ha plot were tagged, identified, mapped, and monitored monthly. Approximately 60% of all individual trees flowered during the study; all species that these flowering individuals belonged to were evaluated for bird visitation. Approximately 13% of the 164 resident species of New Guinea avifauna at the study site, especially honeyeaters and parrots, visited flowers. In the forest inventory plot, approximately 15–22% of all 86 tree species that flowered during the study were visited by birds; most of these tree species were canopy species. Results showed that there was no statistically significant correlation between bird species grouped by bill morphology and flower species grouped as morphotypes and ranked by nectar accessibility, although strong but unexpected bird/plant associations were evident. These associations may be related to variables such as body mass or perch size. These results are discussed in comparison with results from the Neotropics and Australia, and in terms of morphological convergence and pollinator specificity in pollination systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arizmendi MD, Ornelas JF (1990) Hummingbirds and their resources in a dry tropical forest in Mexico. Biotropica 22:172–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong DP (1992) Correlation between nectar supply and aggression in territorial honeyeaters: causation or coincidence? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 30:95–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Bawa KS (1990) Plant-pollinator interactions in tropical rain forests. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 21:399–422

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchill DM, Christensen P (1970) Observations on pollen harvesting by brush-tongued lorikeets. Aust J Zool 18:427–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins BG, Briffa P (1983) Seasonal and diurnal variations in the energetics and foraging behavior of the brown honeyeater, Lichmeria indistincta. Aust J Ecol 8:103–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins BG, Newland C (1986) Honeyeater population changes in relation to food availability in the jarrah forest of Western Australia. Aust J Ecol 11:63–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins BG, Paton DC (1989) Consequences of differences in body mass, wing length and leg morphology for nectar-feeding birds. Aust J Ecol 14:269–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig JL, Douglas ME (1984) Temporal partitioning of a nectar resource in relation to competitive asymmetries. Anim Behav 32:624–625

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruden RW, Toledo VM (1976) Oriole pollination of Erythrina breviflora (Leguminosae): evidence for a polytypic view of ornithophily. Plant Syst Evol 126:393–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Faegri K, van der Pijl L (1979) The principles of pollination ecology. Pergamon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinsinger P (1976) Organization of a tropical guild of nectarivorous birds. Ecol Monogr 46:257–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Feinsinger P (1983) Coevolution and pollination. In: Futuyma DJ, Slatkin M (eds) Coevolution. Sinauer, Sunderland, Mass, pp 282–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford HA (1985) Nectarivory and pollination by birds in southern Australia and Europe. Oikos 44:127–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford HA, Paton DC (1976) The value of insects and nectar to honeyeaters. Emu 76:83–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford HA, Paton DC (1977) The comparative ecology of ten species of honeyeaters in South Australia. Aust J Ecol 2:399–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford HA, Paton DC (1982) Partitioning of nectar resources in an Australian honeyeater community. Aust J Ecol 7:149–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Forshaw JM, Cooper WT (1981) Australian parrots, 2nd edn. Lansdowne Editions, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Gryj E, Delrio CM, Baker I (1990) Avian pollination and nectar use in Combretum fruticosum Loefl. Biotropica 22:266–271

    Google Scholar 

  • House SM (1989) Pollen movement to flowering canopies of pistillate individuals of three rain forest tree species in tropical Australia. Aust J Ecol 14:77–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Heithaus ER (1974) The role of plant-pollinator interactions in determining community structure. Ann Mo Bot Gard 61: 675–691

    Google Scholar 

  • Heywood VH (1978) Flowering plants of the world. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Inouye DW, Kearns CA (1993) Techniques for pollination biologists. University Press of Colorado, Niwot, Colo

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1983) Seed and pollen dispersal by animals: convergence in the ecology of contamination and sloppy harvest. Biol J Linn Soc 20:103–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Keighery GJ (1982) Bird-pollinated plants in Western Australia. In: Armstrong JA, Powell JM, Richards AJ (eds) Pollination and evolution. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, pp 77–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Lea AH, Gray JT (1936) The food of Australian birds. Emu 35: 63–98 and 275–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Linhart YB, Beach JH, Busby WH, Feinsinger P, Guindon CA, Kinsman S, Kooiman M, Murray KG, Pounds WZ (1987) Disturbance and predictability of flowering patterns in bird-pollinated cloud forest plants. Ecology 68:1696–1710

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarland DC (1986a) The organization of a honeyeater community in an unpredictable environment. Aust J Ecol 11:107–120

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarland DC (1986b) Determinants of feeding territory size in the New Holland honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae. Emu 86:180–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson LA, Jonsson L, Ralison L, Randrianjohany E (1987) Angraecoid orchids and hawkmoths in central Madagascar: specialized pollination systems and generalist foragers. Biotropica 19:310–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker SA (1977) Birds as pollinators. Aust Bird Watcher 7: 124–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton DC (1980) The importance of manna, honeydew and lerp in the diets of honeyeaters. Emu 80:213–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton DC, Collins BG (1989) Bills and tongues of nectar-feeding birds: a review of morphology, function and performance, with intercontinental comparisons. Aust J Ecol 14:473–506

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton DC, Ford HA (1977) Pollination by birds of native plants in South Australia. Emu 77:73–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Paton DC, Ford HA (1983) The influence of plant characteristics and honeyeater size on levels of pollination in Australian plants. In: Jones CE, Little RJ (eds) Handbook of experimental pollination biology. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, pp 235–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Pellmyr O (1986) Three pollination morphs in Cimicifuga simplex: incipient speciation due to inferiority in competition. Oecologia 68:304–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyke GH (1980) The foraging behavior of honeyeaters: a review and some comparisons with hummingbirds. Aust J Ecol 5:343–369

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsey MW (1988) Differences in pollinator effectiveness of birds and insects visiting Banksia menziesii (Proteaceae). Oecologia 76:119–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsey MW (1989) The seasonal abundance and foraging behaviour of honeyeaters and their potential role in the pollination of Banksia menziesii. Aust J Ecol 14:33–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Rand AL, Gilliard ET (1967) Handbook of New Guinea birds. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Recher HF (1971) Sharing of habitat by three congeneric honeyeaters. Emu 71:147–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Remsen JV, Stiles FG, Scott PE (1986) Frequency of arthropods in stomachs of tropical hummingbirds. Auk 103:436–441

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow BK, Snow DW (1972) Feeding niches of hummingbirds in a Trinidad valley. J Anim Ecol 41:471–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow DW, Snow BK (1980) Relationships between hummingbirds and flowers in the Andes of Colombia. Bull Br Mus Nat Hist Zool Ser 38:105–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry. Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG (1980) Ecological and evolutionary aspects of bird-flower coadaptations. Proc Int Ornithol Congr 17:1173–1178

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG (1981) Geographical aspects of bird-flower coevolution, with particular reference to Central America. Ann Mo Bot Gard 68:323–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG (1985a) On the role of birds in the dynamics of Neotropical forests. ICBP Tech Publ 4:49–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG (1985b) Seasonal patterns and coevolution in the hummingbird-flower community of a Costa Rican subtropical forest. In: Buckley PA, Foster MS, Morton ES, Ridgely RS, Buckley FG (eds) Neotropical ornithology. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC pp 757–785

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiles FG, Wolf LL (1970) Hummingbird territoriality at a tropical flowering tree. Auk 87:467–491

    Google Scholar 

  • Terborgh J, Diamond JM (1970) Niche overlap in feeding assemblages of New Guinea birds. Wilson Bull 82:29–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Toledo VM (1977) Pollination of some rain forest plants by nonhovering birds in Veracruz, Mexico. Biotropica 9:262–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel S (1954) Blütenbiologische Typen als Elemente der Sippengliederung, dargestellt anhand der Flora Südafriks. (Botanische Studien, no 1) Fischer, Jena

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheelwright NT, Orians GH (1982) Seed dispersal by animals: contrasts with pollen dispersal, problems with terminology, and constraints on coevolution. Am Nat 119:402–413

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolf LL, Stiles GW (1989) Adaptations for the ‘fail-safe’ pollination of specialized ornithophilous flowers. Am Midl Nat 121:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong M (1986) Trophic organization of birds in a Malaysian dipterocarp forest. Auk 100:100–116

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Eleanor D. Brown

    Present address: Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, DC-20560, Washington, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NYZS-The Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA

    Eleanor D. Brown

  2. Biology Department, University of Papua New Guinea, University PO, Papua New Guinea

    M. J. G. Hopkins

Authors
  1. Eleanor D. Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. J. G. Hopkins
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brown, E.D., Hopkins, M.J.G. A test of pollinator specificity and morphological convergence between nectarivorous birds and rainforest tree flowers in New Guinea. Oecologia 103, 89–100 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328429

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328429

Key words

Search

Navigation