Hummingbird foraging preferences during extreme heat events
- Sabina Lawrence,
- Jenny Hazlehurst

Jenny Hazlehurst

California State University East Bay
Corresponding Author:jenny.hazlehurst@csueastbay.edu
Author ProfileAbstract
Climate change is projected to increase mean temperatures as well as the
frequency and intensity of extreme heat events. These changes are
anticipated to alter the behavior of animals as they seek to
thermoregulate in extreme heat. An important area of research is
understanding how mutualistic interactions between animals and plants,
such as pollination, will be affected by the cascading effects of
extreme heat on animal foraging behavior. In this study, we used an
experimental and observational approach to quantify the effects of
extreme heat on hummingbird foraging preferences for nectar sources in
shady versus sunny microsites. We also quantified pollen deposition
using artificial stigmas at these sites to quantify any cascading
effects on plant reproduction. We hypothesized that hummingbirds would
respond to extreme heat by preferentially foraging in shady microsites.
We found little support for this hypothesis, instead finding that
hummingbirds preferred to forage in sunny microsites regardless of
ambient temperature. We found that in sunny microsites on hot days
pollen deposition was slightly higher than in all other microsite and
ambient temperature interactions, though it was only near-significant.