High proportion of smaller ranged hummingbird species coincides with ecological specialization across the Americas

Sonne, Jesper; González, Ana M. Martín; Maruyama, Pietro Kiyoshi; Sandel, Brody; Vizentin‐Bugoni, Jeferson; Schleuning, Matthias; Abrahamczyk, Stefan; Alarcón, Rubén; Araujo, Andréa Cardoso; Araújo, Francielle Paulina de; Azevedo, Severino Mendes de; Baquero, Andrea C.; Cotton, Peter A.; Ingversen, Tanja Toftemark; Kohler, Glauco; Lara, Carlos; Las-Casas, Flor Maria Guedes; Machado, Adriana O.; Machado, Caio Graco; Maglianesi, María Alejandra; Moura, Alan Cerqueira; Bravo, David; Oliveira, Genilda M.; Oliveira, Paulo E.; Ornelas, Juan Francisco; Rodrigues, Licléia da Cruz; Rosero-Lasprilla, Liliana; Rui, Ana Maria; Sazima, Marlies; Timmermann, Allan; Varassin, Isabela Galarda; Wang, Zhiheng; Watts, Stella; Fjeldså, Jon; Svenning, Jens‐Christian; Rahbek, Carsten; Dalsgaard, Bo

doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2512

Cited by 36 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Watts, Dormann, Martín González, & Ollerton, ). The more connected species, both within and between modules, presented wider geographical occurrence, which agrees with the finding that hummingbirds’ range size is negatively related to ecological specialization (Sonne et al., ). Indeed, hummingbirds that acted as connectors and plant species that acted as hubs are well distributed throughout almost whole Brazil (BirdLife International, ; CNCFlora, ; Pennington, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Spatial distance and climate determine modularity in a cross‐biomes plant–hummingbird interaction network in Brazil

Araujo

González

Sandel

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim We examined the effects of space, climate, phylogeny and species traits on module composition in a cross‐biomes plant–hummingbird network. Location Brazil, except Amazonian region. Methods We compiled 31 local binary plant–hummingbird networks, combining them into one cross‐biomes metanetwork. We conducted a modularity analysis and tested the relationship between species’ module membership with traits, geographical location, climatic conditions and range sizes, employing random forest models. We fitted reduced models containing groups of related variables (climatic, spatial, phylogenetic, traits) and combinations of groups to partition the variance explained by these sets into unique and shared components. Results The Brazilian cross‐biomes network was composed of 479 plant and 42 hummingbird species, and showed significant modularity. The resulting six modules conformed well to vegetation domains. Only plant traits, not hummingbird traits, differed between modules, notably plants’ growth form, corolla length, flower shape and colour. Some modules included plant species with very restricted distributions, whereas others encompassed more widespread ones. Widespread hummingbirds were the most connected, both within and between modules, whereas widespread plants were the most connected between modules. Among traits, only nectar concentration had a weak effect on among‐module connectivity. Main conclusions Climate and spatial filters were the main determinants of module composition for hummingbirds and plants, potentially related to resource seasonality, especially for hummingbirds. Historical dispersal‐linked contingency, or environmental variations not accounted for by the explanatory factors here evaluated, could also contribute to the spatial component. Phylogeny and morphological traits had no unique effects on the assignment of species to modules. Widespread species showed higher within‐ and/or among‐module connectivity, indicating their key role connecting biomes, and, in the case of hummingbirds, communities within biomes. Our results indicate that biogeography and climate not only determine the variation of modularity in local plant–animal networks, as previously shown, but also affect the cross‐biomes network structure.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Spatial distance and climate determine modularity in a cross‐biomes plant–hummingbird interaction network in Brazil

Araujo

González

Sandel

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…), but it conforms to the predominance of low proportion of smaller ranged hummingbird species and high variation on degree of ecological specialization in the communities of the Atlantic rain forest (Sonne et al . ). A possible explanation for the occurrence of distinct ecological processes is that montane climate conditions in this biome are not harsh enough to restrict the establishment of hummingbird species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Influence of plant–pollinator interactions on the assembly of plant and hummingbird communities

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Understanding how ecological processes structure species assemblages is a central issue in community ecology. While the influence of plant–pollinator interactions on each other's evolution is well recognized, their role in the assembly of interdependent communities of plants and pollinators is still unclear. Using data from seven communities of hummingbirds and plants that they pollinate from two tropical rain forest types (lowland and montane), we evaluated phylogenetic relationships and signal of functional traits, over space and time, to test predictions on the main processes (environmental filtering, facilitation or competition) that are driving these hummingbird–plant assemblages. Our findings suggest that the main processes driving these assemblages varied between hummingbirds and plants and between habitats, and even among communities at the same habitat. The non‐conserved floral trait and the phylogenetic patterns (even or random) give support to the hypothesis of facilitation or competition as processes regulating the composition of plant assemblages. Moreover, the positive relationship between fitness and flowering synchrony suggests facilitation as the most important mechanism for montane plant communities. Distinctively, for lowland plant communities, the combination of non‐conserved traits and clustered phylogenetic patterns may be a result of either adaptive radiation or biotic filtering driven by a particular pollinator species that plays a main role as plant community organizer. Lastly, evidence of trait conservatism, together with clustered or even phylogenetic patterns, suggests that facilitation or competition may drive the assembly of montane hummingbird communities, despite the predominance of random phylogenetic patterns. Synthesis. Overall, we present a pathway to identify central ecological processes that may drive the assembly of plant–pollinator communities. We show that different processes related with pollination that vary in space and time may contribute to the assembly of the interdependent tropical communities of plants and pollinators. These findings highlight the importance of considering ecological interactions when evaluating community assembly processes.

show abstract

“…Species richness can increase without accompanying niche expansion if species specialization or overlap in resource use increases (Evans, Warren et al, 2005;Mason, Irz, Lanoisel ee, Mouillot, & Argillier, 2008). Nevertheless, the higher temporal stability in tropical areas, which allows for species specialization in resource use (Dalsgaard et al, 2011;Forister et al, 2014;Schleuning et al, 2012;Sonne et al, 2016), could trigger niche partitioning without increasing niche overlap. Nevertheless, the higher temporal stability in tropical areas, which allows for species specialization in resource use (Dalsgaard et al, 2011;Forister et al, 2014;Schleuning et al, 2012;Sonne et al, 2016), could trigger niche partitioning without increasing niche overlap.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Niche packing and expansion account for species richness–productivity relationships in global bird assemblages

Pellissier

Barnagaud

Kissling

et al. 2018

Global Ecol Biogeogr

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Niche theory proposes that increases in species richness along an environmental gradient are associated with a packing of species inside the niche space or an expansion of the niche space. We test whether and under what conditions an increase in bird species richness along a gradient of resource availability is associated with an expansion or packing of the niche as measured based on traits related to resource use. Location Global. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Birds. Methods We measured birds' realized niche space as the standardized departure between observed total trait range and its null expectation (functional richness: SES.FRic) in 12,188 cells worldwide. We first correlated both species richness and this measurement along the global net primary productivity (NPP) gradient using linear regressions. Second, we investigated the non‐stationarity of the species richness–NPP relationship with Lee's bivariate correlation, a measure of the spatial association of two variables. We then assessed the number of cells exhibiting a significant positive species richness–NPP association and a significant negative or positive SES.FRic. Third, we assessed whether species of species‐rich assemblages occur within or outside the niche space of species‐poor assemblages. Results At a global scale, we found that species richness and SES.FRic increased with NPP. We also showed that cells with a significant positive association between species richness and NPP exhibited niche packing (1,699 assemblages out of 12,188) more than niche expansion (five assemblages). Niche packing was associated with complex biomes such as tropical rain forests. Finally, by showing that species in species‐rich assemblages predominantly occur within the niche space of species‐poor assemblages, we showed that the increase in SES.FRic with NPP contributed little to the increase in species richness. Main conclusion Although niche volume increases with species richness along an NPP gradient, we confirmed that niche packing is the pattern most associated with the species richness–NPP relationship at a global scale.

show abstract

High proportion of smaller ranged hummingbird species coincides with ecological specialization across the Americas

Cited by 36 publications

References 74 publications

Spatial distance and climate determine modularity in a cross‐biomes plant–hummingbird interaction network in Brazil

Spatial distance and climate determine modularity in a cross‐biomes plant–hummingbird interaction network in Brazil

Influence of plant–pollinator interactions on the assembly of plant and hummingbird communities

Niche packing and expansion account for species richness–productivity relationships in global bird assemblages

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About