The Manú Gradient as a study system for bird pollination.

Mannfred Boehm,Julian Heavyside,Aniceto Daza,Jill Jankowski,Micah Scholer,Jeremiah Kennedy,David Guevara-Apaza

doi:10.3897/bdj.6.e22241

Abstract

BackgroundThis study establishes an altiudinal gradient, spanning from the highland Andes (2400 m) to lowland Amazon, as a productive region for the study of bird pollination in Southeastern Peru. The 'Manú Gradient' has a rich history of ornithological research, the published data and resources from which lay the groundwork for analyses of plant-bird interactions. In this preliminary expedition we documented 44 plants exhibting aspects of the bird pollination syndrome, and made field observations of hummingbird visits at three sites spanning the Manú Gradient: 2800 m (Wayqecha), 1400 m (San Pedro), and 400 m (Pantiacolla). Some of the documented plant taxa are underrepresented in the bird pollination literature and could be promising avenues for future analyses of their pollination biology. The Manú Gradient is currently the focus of a concerted, international effort to describe and study the birds in the region; we propose that this region of Southeastern Peru is a productive and perhaps underestimated system to gain insight into the ecology and evolution of bird pollination.New informationObservations were made on 11, 19, and 14 putatively bird pollinated plant species found at the high-, mid- and low-elevation sites along the gradient, respectively. Hummingbirds visited 18 of these plant species, with some plant species being visited by multiple hummingbird species or the same hummingbird species on differing occasions. Morphometric data is presented for putatively bird-pollinated plants, along with bill measurements from hummingbirds captured at each of three sites. Voucher specimens from this study are deposited in the herbaria of the Universidad Nacional de Agraria de La Molina (MOL), Peru and the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. The specimens collected represent a ‘snapshot’ of the diversity of bird-pollinated flora as observed over 10 day sampling windows (per site) during the breeding season for hummingbirds of Manú .

Highlights

Manú National Park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve nested within the most biodiverse region in the world: the tropical Andes (Myers et al 2000)
The Manú Gradient has a rich history of ornithological research, and over the last decade the Manú Gradient has been the focus of numerous ornithological studies as part of the Manú Bird Project (e.g. Merkord 2010, Jankowski et al 2012a, Jankowski et al 2012b, Londoño et al 2014, Londoño et al 2016, Dehling et al 2014, Munoz 2016)
Nectar concentrations fell within a typical bird pollination syndrome (Stiles 1978, Fenster et al 2004), ranging from 12-25.5% (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Manú National Park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve nested within the most biodiverse region in the world: the tropical Andes (Myers et al 2000). This study establishes an altiudinal gradient, spanning from the highland Andes (2400 m) to lowland Amazon, as a productive region for the study of bird pollination in Southeastern Peru. The 'Manú Gradient' has a rich history of ornithological research, the published data and resources from which lay the groundwork for analyses of plant-bird interactions. In this preliminary expedition we documented 44 plants exhibting aspects of the bird pollination syndrome, and made field observations of hummingbird visits at three sites spanning the Manú Gradient: 2800 m (Wayqecha), 1400 m (San Pedro), and 400 m (Pantiacolla).

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion