High-reward flowers that produce relatively high volumes of nectar are thought to be especially attractive to long-billed hermits and other hummingbird species. But when María A. Maglianesi and team monitored hummingbird visits to flowering plants, including Heliconia irrasa, at Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary and other sites in Costa Rica, they found that visit frequencies weren’t influenced by nectar traits: Rather, physical compatibility of flower corollas (collections of petals) and hummingbird bills more strongly predicted hummingbird-plant interaction patterns.
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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Central Ideas and Details
mediumWhich statement about hummingbird preferences is most strongly supported by the text?
A
Hummingbirds’ preferences are primarily driven by trait-matching between their bills and flower corollas, though nectar qualities are a secondary factor driving their preferences.
B
A floral trait found to influence which plant species hummingbirds prefer may result in certain hummingbird species visiting flowers with relatively low nectar rewards over those with higher nectar rewards.
C
High-reward flowers with large amounts of nectar are always more attractive to hummingbirds than flowers with smaller amounts of nectar.
D
The research by María A. Maglianesi and team shows that nectar traits have no impact whatsoever on any aspect of hummingbird feeding behavior.