Historic checklist, core species and temporal composition turnover of birds in an urban protected natural area in central México over 50 years.

The Pedregal de San Ángel Ecological Reserve (REPSA) is located within the central campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in southwestern Mexico City. This area is known for its bird richness, which has been documented over time. However, this historical information has not been compiled, nor has it been assessed whether species composition has changed over time.

Genetic relatedness and morphology as drivers of interspecific dominance hierarchy in hummingbirds.

A dominance hierarchy is the set of ranks occupied by species within an assemblage. Species with a high position within the dominance hierarchy tend to dominate subordinate species in contests for access to resources. In hummingbirds, greater weight and wing disc loading have been associated with highest ranks within the dominance hierarchy.

Community-level reorganizations following migratory pollinator dynamics along a latitudinal gradient.

Predicting how communities re-arrange in response to changes in species composition remains a key challenge in ecology. Migratory species, which enter and leave communities across latitudinal gradients, offer us a unique opportunity to evaluate community- and species-level responses to a shift in community composition. We focused on a migratory hummingbird and the communities that host it along a latitudinal and species diversity gradient.

Factors affecting the dominance hierarchy dynamics in a hummingbird assemblage.

Intra and interspecific competition for nectar play an important role in hummingbird communities. Larger sized species usually exclude smaller species from the rich floral resources. However, it has been recently postulated that the competitive advantages of a large body size decline as the evolutionary distance between the contending species increases.

Meta-networks for the study of biogeographical traits in ecological networks: the Mexican hummingbird-plant assemblage.

Recent studies on ecological networks have quantified the contribution of ecological, historical, and evolutionary factors on the structure of local communities of interacting species. However, the influence of species' biogeographical traits, such as migratory habits or phylogeographical history, on ecological networks is poorly understood. Meta-networks, i.

Number of hummingbird visits determines flower mite abundance on hummingbird feeders.

Members of several genera of mites from the family Melicharidae (Mesostigmata) use hummingbirds as transport host to move from flower to flower, where they feed on pollen and nectar. The factors that influence hummingbird flower mite abundance on host plant flowers are not currently known. Here we tested whether hummingbird flower mite abundance on an artificial nectar source is determined by number of hummingbird visits, nectar energy content or species richness of visiting hummingbirds.