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Feeding Adaptations (feeding + adaptation)
Selected AbstractsPhylogeny, biogeography, and recurrent evolution of divergent bill types in the nectar-stealing flowerpiercers (Thraupini: Diglossa and Diglossopis)BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009WILLIAM M. MAUCK III Neotropical tanagers known as flowerpiercers (Diglossa and Diglossopis) have a novel feeding adaptation, comprising a downward curved hook on the maxilla that allows these species to obtain floral nectar without pollination. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences, the phylogenetic relationships of all 18 species of flowerpiercers were studied for the first time. Strong support was found for the monophyly of flowerpiercers and for the monophyly of four superspecies within flowerpiercers. However, previously described species-groups, as well as the genus Diglossopis, are not monophyletic. The biogeographic origin of flowerpiercers was identified as Andean, with a single dispersal event from the northern Andes to Central America and a single dispersal event from the northern Andes to the tepuis. The first principal component, representing a contrast between hook size and bill size, was mapped onto the phylogeny to examine the evolution of relative hook size in the group. Across the phylogeny, a relatively large hook and a relatively small hook evolved multiple times in unrelated lineages, indicating lability in bill morphology. Differences in hook size among sympatric species, together with habitat partitioning and behavioural differences, can explain the coexistence of multiple species of flowerpiercers at the same locality. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 98, 14,28. [source] Fruit and fibre: the nutritional value of figs for a small tropical ruminant, the blue duiker (Cephalophus monticola)AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Erin L. Kendrick Abstract Tropical forests throughout the world are home to a guild of small ruminants that consume fruit as a substantial portion of their diet. Because the rumen is relatively inefficient at digesting nonstructural carbohydrates and only slowly digests cellulose, the feeding adaptations of frugivorous ruminants are enigmatic. We examined the nutritional value of wild figs to blue duikers, one of the smallest and most frugivorous ruminants, through chemical analyses and a series of digestion trials with six species of wild African figs. These figs were high in fat, protein, cell wall, lignin and Ca : P ratios, low in sugar and starch, and high in unextractable, fibre-bound tannins when compared with many other fruits. The fibre-bound tannins and protein caused protein digestibility and nitrogen balance to be consistently low or negative. The high fibre content of the figs allowed duikers to only digest 30,60% of energy contained in the figs. However, duikers were able to consume enough digestible energy to maintain body mass during 4-day trials. Therefore, a ruminant digestive system is beneficial to mammals eating high fibre, high-tannin tropical fruit like figs, especially if the mammal is small enough to harvest a sufficient amount to meet its daily energy requirements and has adaptations for reducing the effects of tannins on protein digestibility. Résumé Les forêts tropicales du monde entier abritent toute une faune de petits ruminants dont les fruits constituent une part non négligeable de l'alimentation. Comme le rumen est relativement peu efficace pour digérer les hydrates de carbone non structuraux et ne digère que lentement la cellulose, les adaptations alimentaires des ruminants frugivores sont encore énigmatiques. Nous avons examiné la valeur nutritionnelle des figues sauvages pour le céphalophe bleu, un des ruminants les plus petits et parmi les plus frugivores, au moyen d'analyses chimiques et d'une série d'essais de digestion avec six espèces de figues sauvages africaines. Ces figues étaient riches en graisses, en protéines, en parois cellulaires, en lignine, et leur rapport Ca/P était élevé; elles avaient un contenu faible en sucre et en amidon, et beaucoup de tanins impossibles à extraire, liés aux fibres, comparés à de nombreux autres fruits. Les tanins liés aux fibres et les protéines faisaient que la digestibilité des protéines et l'équilibre azotéétaient en permanence faibles ou négatifs. Le contenu en fibres élevé des figues ne permettait aux céphalophes de digérer que 30 à 60% de l'énergie contenue dans les figues. Cependant, pendant les quatre jours du test, les céphalophes ont pu consommer suffisamment d'énergie digestible pour conserver leur masse corporelle. C'est pourquoi le système digestif des ruminants est bénéfique pour les mammifères qui consomment des fruits tropicaux riches en fibres et en tanins, comme les figues, spécialement si le mammifère est assez petit pour pouvoir en trouver une quantité suffisante pour répondre à ses besoins quotidiens en énergie, et qu'il possède des adaptations qui lui permettent de réduire les effets des tanins sur la digestibilité des protéines. [source] Dental topography and diets of four old world monkey speciesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Jonathan M. Bunn Abstract Dental topographic analysis allows comparisons of variably worn teeth within and between species to infer relationships between dental form and diet in living primates, with implications for reconstructing feeding adaptations of fossil forms. Although analyses to date have been limited mainly to the M2s of a few primate taxa, these suggest that dental topographic analysis holds considerable promise. Still, larger samples including a greater range of species and different tooth types are needed to determine the potential of this approach. Here we examine dental topography of molar teeth of Cercocebus torquatus (n=48), Cercopithecus campbelli (n=50), Colobus polykomos (n=50), and Procolobus badius (n=50). This is the first such study of large samples of Old World monkeys, and the first to include analyses of both M1s and M2s. Average slope, relief, and surface angularity were computed and compared among tooth types, wear stages, and species. Results suggest that (1) data for M1s and M2s cannot be compared directly; (2) slope and relief decline with wear on M2s of all taxa, and M1s of the colobines, whereas angularity does not generally change except in the most worn specimens; and (3) folivorous colobines tend to have more sloping surfaces and more relief than do frugivorous cercopithecines, though angularity does not clearly separate taxa by diet. Am. J. Primatol. 71:466,477, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The phylogeny of the living and fossil Sphenisciformes (penguins)CLADISTICS, Issue 5 2006Daniel T. Ksepka We present the first phylogenetic analysis of the Sphenisciformes that extensively samples fossil taxa. Combined analysis of 181 morphological characters and sequence fragments from mitochondrial and nuclear genes (12S, 16S, COI, cytochrome b, RAG-1) yields a largely resolved tree. Two species of the New Zealand Waimanu form a trichotomy with all other penguins in our result. The much discussed giant penguins Anthropornis and Pachydyptes are placed in two clades near the base of the tree. Stratigraphic and phylogenetic evidence suggest that some lineages of penguins attained very large body size rapidly and early in the clade's evolutionary history. The only fossil taxa that fall inside the crown clade Spheniscidae are fossil species assigned to the genus Spheniscus. Thus, extant penguin diversity is more accurately viewed as the product of a successful radiation of derived taxa than as an assemblage of survivors belonging to numerous lineages. The success of the Spheniscidae may be due to novel feeding adaptations and a more derived flipper apparatus. We offer a biogeographical scenario for penguins that incorporates fossil distributions and paleogeographic reconstructions of the Southern continent's positions. Our results do not support an expansion of the Spheniscidae from a cooling Continental Antarctica, but instead suggest those species that currently breed in that area are the descendants of colonizers from the Subantarctic. Many important divergence events in the clade Spheniscidae can instead be explained by dispersal along the paths of major ocean currents and the emergence of new islands due to tectonic events. © The Willi Hennig Society 2006. [source] | ||||||||||