Species morphology better predicts plant-hummingbird interactions across elevations than nectar traits

Species traits greatly influence interactions between plants and pollinators where floral nectar is the primary energy source fostering this mutualism. However, very little is known about how nectar traits mediate interactions in pollination networks compared to morphological traits. Here, we evaluated the role of morphological and nectar traits in shaping plant-hummingbird interaction networks along an elevation gradient. For this, we assessed patterns in floral phenotypic traits and network properties of plant species across elevations in Costa Rica. We also analysed whether plant species with generalised flower traits are ecological generalists and how morphological trait matching vs nectar traits affect interactions. We found marked variation in floral phenotypic traits and flower abundance of hummingbird-visited plant species across ten sites along the elevation gradient. We did not find evidence for a relationship between flower morphology and nectar traits or between morphologica..., Next, we include a summary of the methods and analyses we used in our study Species morphological traits We included in our analysis morphological traits of interacting species that have been reported to affect plant–hummingbird interactions. For plants, we measured total corolla length, corolla curvature and width of the corolla opening for 59 plant species. For hummingbirds, we measured total bill length (distance from tip to nostril) and curvature of 220 individuals belonging to 22 species (n = 10 per species). Measurements were taken from photos of fresh flowers and mist-netted hummingbird individuals in the field, complemented with museum specimens, and then processed with ImageJ software. Nectar traits and flower abundance We quantified daily nectar production and concentration per flower for common plant species visited by hummingbirds in the understory. We sampled these nectar traits from flowers that were bagged with nylon netting (~0.5-1 mm mesh size) prior to anthesis to prev..., , # Species morphology better predicts plant-hummingbird interactions across elevations than nectar traits This repository contains three R scripts and a data folder with three CSV files. The R scripts are named \"Plant.species.level.1.R\", \"Plant.species.level.2.R\", and \"Interactions.level.R\". The scripts \"Plant.species.level.1.R\" and \"Plant.species.level.2.R\" use the CSV file \"1_Plant_level.csv\" as data, and the \"3_Interactions_level.R\" script uses the \"2_Interactions_level.csv\" file. The ‘trees.zip’ folder includes the 1000 phylogenetic trees needed for the phylogenetic models for analyses in “Plant.species.level.1.R” and “Plant.species.level.2.R”. ### Scripts 1. Plant.species.level.1.R: This script assesses patterns in floral phenotypic traits and flower abundance of plant species along an elevation gradient and to what extent flower morphology predicts nectar traits. 2. Plant.species.level.2.R: This script assesses the influence of phenotypic traits and elevation on ecological gener...物种性状极大地影响植物与传粉者之间的互作，其中花蜜是维持这种互利共生（mutualism）的主要能量来源。然而，相较于形态性状，学界对花蜜性状如何调控传粉网络（pollination network）中的物种互作仍知之甚少。本研究聚焦海拔梯度（elevation gradient）下的植物-蜂鸟互作网络，评估形态性状与花蜜性状在塑造该网络中的作用。为此，我们针对哥斯达黎加不同海拔区域的植物物种，分析了其花表型性状（floral phenotypic traits）格局与网络属性。我们还探究了具有泛化花性状的植物物种是否为生态泛化种（ecological generalists），以及形态性状匹配与花蜜性状分别如何影响物种互作。研究发现，沿海拔梯度的10个调查样地中，蜂鸟访花植物的花表型性状与花丰度存在显著差异。我们未发现花形态与花蜜性状之间存在关联的证据，也未发现形态学相关性状……。接下来，我们将介绍本研究使用的方法与分析流程。 ### 物种形态性状 我们在分析中纳入了已有研究报道的、影响植物-蜂鸟互作的互作类群形态性状。针对植物，我们测定了59种植物的花冠总长、花冠弯曲度以及花冠开口宽度。针对蜂鸟，我们测定了隶属于22个物种的220个个体的喙总长（喙尖至鼻孔的距离）与喙弯曲度（每个物种n=10）。测量数据取自野外新鲜花朵照片、雾网捕获的蜂鸟个体，并辅以博物馆标本，随后通过ImageJ软件（ImageJ）进行处理。 ### 花蜜性状与花丰度 我们对林下蜂鸟访食的常见植物物种的单花单日花蜜产量与浓度进行了定量分析。我们于开花前使用孔径约0.5-1 mm的尼龙网袋对花朵进行套袋，以采集花蜜性状样本……，，# 相较于花蜜性状，物种形态性状更能预测海拔梯度下的植物-蜂鸟互作 本数据集仓库包含3个R脚本（R script）与1个数据文件夹，该文件夹内含3个逗号分隔值文件（CSV）。R脚本分别命名为"Plant.species.level.1.R"、"Plant.species.level.2.R"与"Interactions.level.R"。其中"Plant.species.level.1.R"与"Plant.species.level.2.R"以"1_Plant_level.csv"作为数据源，而"3_Interactions_level.R"脚本则使用"2_Interactions_level.csv"文件。"trees.zip"压缩包包含了用于"Plant.species.level.1.R"与"Plant.species.level.2.R"分析中的系统发育模型（phylogenetic model）所需的1000棵系统发育树（phylogenetic trees）。 ### 脚本说明 1. "Plant.species.level.1.R"：本脚本用于分析海拔梯度下植物物种的花表型性状与花丰度格局，以及花形态对花蜜性状的预测程度。 2. "Plant.species.level.2.R"：本脚本用于评估表型性状与海拔对生态gener……