Abstract

MARQUEZ-LUNA, Ubaldo; LARA, Carlos; CORCUERA, Pablo  and  VALVERDE, Pedro Luis. Effect of body size and evolutionary distance in the agonistic interactions of hummingbirds (Trochilidae). Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2018, vol.89, n.1, pp.149-162. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2018.1.1876.

Larger hummingbirds often dominate smaller species in contest for resources. It has recently been postulated that in birds, this advantage declines as the evolutionary distance between two interacting species increases. In the present study we used hummingbirds as a model to evaluate: 1) the frequency of agonistic interactions won by larger and smaller hummingbirds, 2) if the body size relative to the competitor and the clade belonging to the hummingbirds have an effect on the frequency of won encounters, and 3) if there are differences between the genetic distance of hummingbirds that won encounters against smaller contenders. Our study included interactions of 74 species of hummingbirds distributed in seven countries of America. We found that the largest species dominated 74% of the encounters. Hummingbirds of the Emerald clade dominated 45% of the total contests analyzed, and all clades of hummingbirds won more encounters when they faced a smaller contender. Finally, no significant differences were found between the genetic distances of the hummingbirds that won contests against smaller competitors. The results highlight the importance of incorporating evolutionary perspectives in the study of communities.

Keywords : Dominance; Hierarchy; Competition; Clades of hummingbirds; America.

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