Montgomerie Robert D
Department of Biology, Queens University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Oecologia. 1984 Aug;63(2):229-236. doi: 10.1007/BF00379882.
Handling times of hummingbirds (Amazilia rutila and Cynanthus latirostris) visiting artificial flowers were a positive function of corolla length, nectar volume and nectar concentration. Corolla angle had no consistent effects on handling times. A multiple regression model explained 83% of the variation in handling times for these two species. The model also closely fit independent data from another hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, suggesting that it is general enough to apply to other medium-sized, short-billed hummingbird species. When examined across the range of variation normally encountered by hummingbirds in nature, corolla length and nectar volume had the largest effect on nectar extraction rates. At corolla lengths longer than a hummingbird's bill handling time increases markedly. Hummingbirds maximize their net rate of energy intake by selecting flowers with the shortest corolla, the highest nectar concentrations and the highest nectar volume. Since there is a positive relation between bill length and nectar extraction rate, it is surprising that most hummingbirds have relatively short bills.
访问人造花朵的蜂鸟（红喉北蜂鸟和阔嘴蜂鸟）的处理时间是花冠长度、花蜜量和花蜜浓度的正函数。花冠角度对处理时间没有一致的影响。一个多元回归模型解释了这两个物种处理时间变化的83%。该模型也与另一种蜂鸟——黑颏北蜂鸟的独立数据紧密拟合，这表明它具有足够的通用性，可应用于其他中型、短喙蜂鸟物种。当在蜂鸟在自然界中通常遇到的变化范围内进行考察时，花冠长度和花蜜量对花蜜提取率的影响最大。当花冠长度超过蜂鸟的喙长时，处理时间会显著增加。蜂鸟通过选择花冠最短、花蜜浓度最高和花蜜量最大的花朵来最大化它们的净能量摄入率。由于喙长与花蜜提取率之间存在正相关关系，所以大多数蜂鸟拥有相对较短的喙这一点令人惊讶。
