Department of Animal Ecology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2010 Feb;196(2):91-6. doi: 10.1007/s00359-009-0474-z. Epub 2010 Jan 5.
Pollinating animals and their angiosperm hosts often show strong co-adaptation in traits that increase the likelihood of a successful transfer of pollen and nutrient rewards. One such adaptation is the reported colour difference caused by unequal distribution of anthocyanidin pigments amongst plant species visited by hummingbirds and passerines. This phenomenon has been suggested to reflect possible differences in the colour vision of these pollinating birds. The presence of any such difference in colour vision would arguably affect the ecological and evolutionary interactions between flowers and their visitors, accentuating differences in floral displays and attractiveness of plants to the favoured avian pollinators. We have tested for differences in colour vision, as indicated by the amino acid present at certain key positions in the short-wavelength-sensitive type 1 (SWS1) visual pigment opsin, between the major groups of pollinating birds: the non-passerine Trochilidae (hummingbirds), the passerine Meliphagidae (honeyeaters) and Nectariniidae (sunbirds) plus five other Passerida passerine families. The results reveal gross spectral sensitivity differences between hummingbirds and honeyeaters, on the one hand, and the Passerida species, on the other.
传粉动物及其被子植物宿主在增加花粉和营养物质成功传递可能性的特征上往往表现出强烈的协同适应。这种适应之一是，据报道，蜂鸟和雀形目鸟类访问的植物物种之间，由于类黄酮色素分布不均，会导致颜色差异。有人认为，这种现象反映了传粉鸟类的色觉可能存在差异。这种色觉差异的存在无疑会影响花与传粉者之间的生态和进化相互作用，突出花的显示和植物对受青睐的鸟类传粉者吸引力的差异。我们已经测试了主要的传粉鸟类群体之间的色觉差异，这些差异是由短波长敏感型 1（SWS1）视色素视蛋白中某些关键位置存在的氨基酸指示的：非雀形目 Trochilidae（蜂鸟）、雀形目 Meliphagidae（吸蜜鸟）和 Nectariniidae（太阳鸟）以及其他五个雀形目 Passerida 雀形目科。结果表明，蜂鸟和吸蜜鸟与 Passerida 物种之间存在明显的光谱敏感性差异。
