Animals that feed from resources that are constant in space and that refill may benefit from repeating the order in which they visit locations.This is a behavior known as traplining,a spatial phenomenon.Hummingbirds,l...Animals that feed from resources that are constant in space and that refill may benefit from repeating the order in which they visit locations.This is a behavior known as traplining,a spatial phenomenon.Hummingbirds,like other central-place foragers,use short traplines when moving between several rewarding sites.Here we investigated whether traplining hummingbirds also use relevant temporal information when choosing which flowers to visit.Wild rufous hummingbirds that were allowed to visit 3 artificial flower patches in which flowers were refilled 20 min after they had been depleted repeated the order in which they visited the 3 patches.Although they tended to visit the first 2 patches sooner than 20 min,they visited the third patch at approximately 20-min intervals.The time between visits to the patches increased across the experiment,suggesting that the birds learned to wait longer before visiting a patch.The birds appeared to couple the sequential pattern of a trapline with temporal regularity,to some degree.This suggests that there is a temporal component to the repeated spatial movements flown by foraging wild hummingbirds.展开更多
Behaviors of 18 species of birds eating fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides spp.sinensis were observed from September 2003 to March 2004.Their foraging patterns were found to be very different and can be divided into five ...Behaviors of 18 species of birds eating fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides spp.sinensis were observed from September 2003 to March 2004.Their foraging patterns were found to be very different and can be divided into five classes:(1)direct swallowing the fruits on crown of the shrubs and sometimes regurgitating seeds soon after;(2)carrying the fruits to their perching sites and swallowing;(3)pecking the fruits from the shrubs to the ground,eating pulp and seeds but leaving pericarp;(4)pecking through the pericarp,eating pulp and leaving pericarp and seeds;(5)pecking through the pericarp on the top of fruits,and only eating seeds.These foraging patterns have different effects on seed dispersal of H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis.The germina-tion experiment of three groups of seeds(seeds from feces,dry fruits and extracted seeds from dry fruits)was carried out.Although ingestion processes of birds had some adverse effects on the seed germination of H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis,the seeds from feces still have a relatively higher germination ratio.H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis provides food to a variety of frugivorous birds,and the birds disperse its seeds.Thus,a mutually beneficial relationship between the bird and the seed is formed.展开更多
文摘Animals that feed from resources that are constant in space and that refill may benefit from repeating the order in which they visit locations.This is a behavior known as traplining,a spatial phenomenon.Hummingbirds,like other central-place foragers,use short traplines when moving between several rewarding sites.Here we investigated whether traplining hummingbirds also use relevant temporal information when choosing which flowers to visit.Wild rufous hummingbirds that were allowed to visit 3 artificial flower patches in which flowers were refilled 20 min after they had been depleted repeated the order in which they visited the 3 patches.Although they tended to visit the first 2 patches sooner than 20 min,they visited the third patch at approximately 20-min intervals.The time between visits to the patches increased across the experiment,suggesting that the birds learned to wait longer before visiting a patch.The birds appeared to couple the sequential pattern of a trapline with temporal regularity,to some degree.This suggests that there is a temporal component to the repeated spatial movements flown by foraging wild hummingbirds.
基金supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No.30570110,30270091).
文摘Behaviors of 18 species of birds eating fruits of Hippophae rhamnoides spp.sinensis were observed from September 2003 to March 2004.Their foraging patterns were found to be very different and can be divided into five classes:(1)direct swallowing the fruits on crown of the shrubs and sometimes regurgitating seeds soon after;(2)carrying the fruits to their perching sites and swallowing;(3)pecking the fruits from the shrubs to the ground,eating pulp and seeds but leaving pericarp;(4)pecking through the pericarp,eating pulp and leaving pericarp and seeds;(5)pecking through the pericarp on the top of fruits,and only eating seeds.These foraging patterns have different effects on seed dispersal of H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis.The germina-tion experiment of three groups of seeds(seeds from feces,dry fruits and extracted seeds from dry fruits)was carried out.Although ingestion processes of birds had some adverse effects on the seed germination of H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis,the seeds from feces still have a relatively higher germination ratio.H.rhamnoides spp.sinensis provides food to a variety of frugivorous birds,and the birds disperse its seeds.Thus,a mutually beneficial relationship between the bird and the seed is formed.
