A handful of beauty and services: Flower-visiting birds at two small urbanised sites in south-eastern Brazil and Australia

Abstract

Urbanised sites around the world harbour bird assemblages capable to tolerate human-induced environmental changes. Assemblages of flower-visiting birds at urbanised sites usually are composed of a limited number of habitat generalist species that favour open areas and edges, a tendency recorded for fruit or insect-eating species as well. We compared flower-visiting bird assemblages and their flower resources in two small urbanised sites in two almost antipodal countries: Brazil and Australia. The flower-visiting birds at the two study sites are composed of completely different families and species but have similar functional traits. Each study site has flower-visiting bird assemblages composed of six species, with predominance of hummingbirds in Brazil and honeyeaters in Australia. A large hummingbird in Brazil and a medium-sized honeyeater in Australia monopolise the nectar resources and aggressively expel other birds. Landscaping and gardening activities provide year-round nectar-producing flowers exploited by the birds. The two flower-visiting bird assemblages share several similarities despite their different species composition. At both sites the flower-visiting birds retain their ecological functions and deliver ecosystem services. Pollination and cultural services are the most prominent ones provided by the birds and their flowers. Such natural history-oriented comparisons help to understand the poorly known relationships between flower-visiting birds and their flowers in small urbanised areas.