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The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 2325-2336 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Review

The ecological and evolutionary interface of hummingbird flight physiology

Douglas L. Altshuler^1,* and Robert Dudley^1,2

¹ Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
² Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, PO Box 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama

^* Present address and address for correspondence: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA (e-mail: colibri{at}socrates.berkeley.edu )

Accepted 25 May 2002

The hovering ability, rapidity of maneuvers and upregulated aerobic capacity of hummingbirds have long attracted the interest of flight biologists. The range of intra- and interspecific variation in flight performance among hummingbirds, however, is equally impressive. A dominant theme in hummingbird evolution is progressive invasion of higher-elevation habitats. Hypobaric challenge is met behaviorally through compensatory changes in wingbeat kinematics, particularly in stroke amplitude. Over evolutionary time scales, montane colonization is associated with increases in body mass and relative wing area. Hovering ability has been well-studied in several North American hummingbird taxa, yet the broad range of interspecific variation in hummingbird axial and appendicular anatomy remains to be assessed mechanistically. Such varied features as tail length, molt condition and substantial weight change due to lipid-loading can dramatically alter various features of the flight envelope. Compared with our present knowledge of hovering performance in hummingbirds, the mechanics of forward flight and maneuvers is not well understood.

Relationships among flight-related morphology, competitive ability and foraging behavior have been the focus of numerous studies on tropical and temperate hummingbirds. Ecologists have hypothesized that the primary selective agents on hummingbird flight-related morphology are the behaviors involved in floral nectar consumption. However, flight behaviors involved in foraging for insects may also influence the evolution of wing size and shape. Several comparisons of hummingbird communities across elevational gradients suggest that foraging strategies and competitive interactions within and among species vary systematically across elevations as the costs of flight change with body size and wing shape.

Key words: aerodynamics, biomechanics, evolutionary physiology, flight, hovering, hummingbird

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