Treating hummingbirds as feathered bees: a case of ethological cross-pollination

Hummingbirds feed from hundreds of flowers every day. The properties of these flowers provide these birds with a wealth of information about colour, space and time to guide how they forage. To understand how hummingbirds might use this information, researchers have adapted established laboratory par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biology letters (2005) Vol. 13; no. 12; p. 20170610
Main Authors:	Pritchard, D. J., Tello Ramos, M. C., Muth, F., Healy, S. D.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England The Royal Society 01-12-2017 The Royal Society Publishing
Subjects:	Animal Behaviour Animals Bees Bees - physiology Birds Birds - physiology Bumblebees Cognition Cognition & reasoning Cognitive ability Cognitive Ecology Convergence Cross-pollination Ecological effects Ecology Feeders Flowers Forage Foraging Foraging behavior Hummingbirds Identification methods Insects Laboratories Navigation Nectar Pollination Pollinators Review Sensory systems Trap-Lining Trochilidae foraging cognitive ecology navigation hummingbirds trap-lining bees
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Summary:	Hummingbirds feed from hundreds of flowers every day. The properties of these flowers provide these birds with a wealth of information about colour, space and time to guide how they forage. To understand how hummingbirds might use this information, researchers have adapted established laboratory paradigms for use in the field. In recent years, however, experimental inspiration has come less from other birds, and more from looking at other nectar-feeders, particularly honeybees and bumblebees, which have been models for foraging behaviour and cognition for over a century. In a world in which the cognitive abilities of bees regularly make the news, research on the influence of ecology and sensory systems on bee behaviour is leading to novel insights in hummingbird cognition. As methods designed to study insects in the laboratory are being applied to hummingbirds in the field, converging methods can help us identify and understand convergence in cognition, behaviour and ecology.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:	1744-9561 1744-957X
DOI:	10.1098/rsbl.2017.0610