Nectar palatability can selectively filter bird and insect visitors to coral tree flowers

dc.contributor.authorNicolson, Sue W.
dc.contributor.authorLerch-Henning, Sara
dc.contributor.authorWelsford, Megan
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, Steven D.
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-26T05:37:32Z
dc.date.issued2015-03
dc.description.abstractSecondary compounds in nectar may play a decisive role in determining the spectrum of floral visitors on plants. Flowers of the African coral tree Erythrina caffra are visited mainly by generalist passerine nectarivores, such as weavers and bulbuls. As the nectar of this species tastes very bitter to humans, it was hypothesized that secondary compounds may repel sunbirds and honeybees which are common in the same habitats yet seldom consume the nectar. We conducted choice tests using fresh nectar and both sucrose and hexose (glucose/fructose) solutions of the same concentration as the nectar. Whitebellied Sunbirds (Cinnyris talatala) were repelled by nectar of both E. caffra and a related species Erythrina lysistemon, but Dark-capped Bulbuls (Pycnonotus tricolor) did not discriminate between the Erythrina nectar and control sugar solution in terms of amounts consumed. Honeybees (Apis mellifera scutellata) probed exposed droplets of E. caffra nectar and a control sugar solution at the same rate, suggesting that there is no volatile deterrent, but they immediately withdrew their proboscis far more often from the droplets of Erythrina nectar than they did from the sugar solution, suggesting that they find Erythrina nectar distasteful. These results contribute to a growing awareness that non-sugar components of nectar can play important functional roles in plant pollination systems.en_ZA
dc.description.embargo2016-03-31
dc.description.librarianhb2015en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipSouth African National Research Foundation (NRF)en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://link.springer.com/journal/10682en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationNicolson, SW, Lerch-Henning, S, Welsford, M & Johnson, SD 2015, 'Nectar palatability can selectively filter bird and insect visitors to coral tree flowers', Evolutionary Ecology, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 405-417.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0269-7653 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1573-8477 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1007/s10682-014-9718-7
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/51251
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherSpringeren_ZA
dc.rights© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014. The original publication is available at : http://link.springer.comjournal/10682.en_ZA
dc.subjectBird pollinationen_ZA
dc.subjectBitter nectaren_ZA
dc.subjectDilute nectaren_ZA
dc.subjectErythrinaen_ZA
dc.subjectGeneralist nectarivoresen_ZA
dc.titleNectar palatability can selectively filter bird and insect visitors to coral tree flowersen_ZA
dc.typePostprint Articleen_ZA

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