Duan Qiong, Quan Rui-Chang
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
Dongwuxue Yanjiu. 2012 Oct;33(5):427-32. doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1141.2012.05427.
Black and red are the most common colors of fruit, but the reason behind this has been subject to debate. Food preferences of avian frugivores for certain colors of food have been proposed as a selection mechanism that explains these traits, but there is little evidence supporting this hypothesis. Here, we conducted a lab experiment using four colors of natural fruit to evaluate color preferences of five avian species, and we also conducted this experiment in open area and understory habitats. Our results showed that red and black fruits were selected most often in lab experiment; in field experiment, red and black fruits were also the most preferred food, but the total amount of consumed fruits differed significantly between open areas and understory habitats. Our study suggested that differences in color preferences among frugivores may potentially reflect the diversity of fruit color and frequency in Xishuangbanna.
黑色和红色是水果最常见的颜色，但这背后的原因一直存在争议。有人提出，食果鸟类对特定颜色食物的偏好是一种选择机制，可以解释这些特征，但几乎没有证据支持这一假设。在这里，我们进行了一项实验室实验，使用四种颜色的天然水果来评估五种鸟类的颜色偏好，并且我们还在开阔地和林下栖息地进行了这个实验。我们的结果表明，在实验室实验中，红色和黑色水果被选择的频率最高；在野外实验中，红色和黑色水果也是最受喜爱的食物，但开阔地和林下栖息地消耗的水果总量存在显著差异。我们的研究表明，食果动物颜色偏好的差异可能潜在地反映了西双版纳水果颜色和出现频率的多样性。
