Can variation in floral morphology predict Andean hummingbird community composition?

Background/Question/Methods: Previous comparative analyses on the congruence between flower and hummingbird-beak morphology implicate strong plant-pollinator coevolution. In this study, multivariate measures of flower morphology from 14 plant species endemic to the Peruvian Andes were compared with existing beak morphology data of 16 species of sympatric hummingbirds.  The goals were to first predict hummingbird pollinator communities using within- and between-species variation in flower morphology, and then compare these predictions to published records of nectar-retrieval among hummingbird species.

Results/Conclusions: We found considerable variation in the matching of floral and bill morphology, that some hummingbirds were capable of in-nectar retrieval of many plant species (generalists) and that others were only capable of pollinating few (specialists), but also that the predicted composition of these matches were similar to published records. These findings suggest that variation in flower morphology within and among hummingbird-pollinated species may be useful to understand the phylogeography of hummingbirds and provide insight on of how the Andean uplift lead to their rapid diversification.