A generalized pollination system in the tropics: bats, birds and Aphelandra acanthus

A generalized pollination system in the tropics: bats, birds and Aphelandra acanthus.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS A number of different types of flower-visiting animals coexist in any given habitat. What evolutionary and ecological factors influence the subset of these that a given plant relies on for its pollination? Addressing this question requires a mechanistic understanding of the importance of different potential pollinators in terms of visitation rate (pollinator 'quantity') and ...

Fur versus feathers: pollen delivery by bats and hummingbirds and consequences for pollen production.

One floral characteristic associated with bat pollination (chiropterophily) is copious pollen production, a pattern we confirmed in a local comparison of hummingbird- and bat-adapted flowers from a cloud forest site in Ecuador. Previous authors have suggested that wasteful pollen transfer by bats accounted for the pattern. Here we propose and test a new hypothesis: bats select for increased pol...

Bartonella Infections in Rodents and Bats in Tropics

Humming Birds: Pollination Facts and Fancy

Vocal mechanisms in birds and bats: a comparative view.

Vocal signals play a very important role in the life of both birds and echolocating bats, but these two unrelated groups of flying vertebrates have very different vocal systems. They nevertheless must solve many of the same problems in producing sound. This brief review examines avian and microchiropteran motor mechanisms for: 1) coordinating the timing of phonation with the vocal motor pattern...