Nectar intake of White-Bellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) : can meal size be inferred from feeding duration?
dc.contributor.author | Koehler, Angela | |
dc.contributor.author | Verburgt, Luke | |
dc.contributor.author | Nicolson, Sue W. | |
dc.contributor.email | akoehler@zoology.up.ac.za | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2009-02-13T06:45:19Z | |
dc.date.available | 2009-02-13T06:45:19Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2008 | |
dc.description.abstract | A positive relationship between feeding duration and meal size of avian nectarivores has often been assumed in earlier studies. We investigated whether feeding duration can be used as a surrogate for the amount of sugar solution ingested by whitebellied sunbirds, Cinnyris (Nectarinia) talatala. Feeding durations of sunbirds consuming three sucrose concentrations (10%, 20%, and 40% w/w) were measured using an infrared photodetection system, and the amounts consumed were recorded simultaneously by weighing the feeder throughout the experiment. For all three diet concentrations, a positive relationship was found between the time spent feeding per 30 min and the mass consumed. Therefore, feeding duration is demonstrated to be an index of the amount ingested on a particular sugar concentration. The rate of ingestion, however, depended on the sugar concentration, with the highest rate at the lowest concentration of 10% and the lowest rate at the 40% concentration. Less total time was spent feeding on the 20% solution than on the 10% solution, but time increased on the 40% diet because of viscosity effects. There appeared to be a weak relationship between feeding patterns and sex, but this was not significant, probably because of interindividual variation. | en |
dc.identifier.citation | Kohler, A, Verburgt , L & Nicolson, SW 2008, ‘Nectar intake of White-Bellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) : can meal size be inferred from feeding duration?’, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, vol. 81, no. 5, pp. 682-687. [http://0- www.journals.uchigaco.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/588174] | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 1522-2152 | |
dc.identifier.other | 10.1086/588174 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/8905 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | University of Chicago Press | en |
dc.rights | University of Chicago Press | en |
dc.subject | Feeding | en |
dc.subject | Meal size | en |
dc.subject | Sunbirds | en |
dc.subject | Cinnyris talatala | en |
dc.subject.lcsh | Sunbirds -- Food | en |
dc.title | Nectar intake of White-Bellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) : can meal size be inferred from feeding duration? | en |
dc.type | Article | en |