A little bit of background information on the project:
Dr. Matt Betts and Dr. Adam Hadley started this research project in 2011. There are three questions for this project. The first was to see how tropical deforestation(cutting trees down) affects hummingbird movements? In order to investigate this the scientists (Dr. Betts and Dr. Hadley) decided to follow the hummingbirds by tracking them with miniaturized radio tags. They told us these radio tags are like the chips that are put on dogs or cats.
The second question was, do changes in hummingbird movements and behaviors affect pollination of tropical plants? They looked at pollination success of a species of heliconia (Heliconia tortuosa – a plant with flowers that look like bright red lobster claws!) across a gradient in forest loss (forest patches ranging from small and isolated to large reserves). They found that plants in large patches of forest produced more seeds than those in small patches of forest.
The third question was how do hummingbirds pollinate? They have found that it is almost impossible to pollinate heliconias by hand. The hummingbirds can do it but they can’t. This remains an interesting mystery that they are working to solve.
Dr. Betts and Dr. Hadley do a lot of this work here in Las Cruces Biological station in San Vito, Costa Rica. While here they set up nets to catch hummingbirds safely, tag the birds or use them in a portable aviary that allows them to observe how they pollinate. The hummingbirds that they focus on
while in Costa Rica are the Green Hermit, Striped Throated Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, and Rufous-
tailed hummingbird.
Dr. Betts.
Dr. Hadley
Dr. Matt Betts and Dr. Adam Hadley started this research project in 2011. There are three questions for this project. The first was to see how tropical deforestation(cutting trees down) affects hummingbird movements? In order to investigate this the scientists (Dr. Betts and Dr. Hadley) decided to follow the hummingbirds by tracking them with miniaturized radio tags. They told us these radio tags are like the chips that are put on dogs or cats.
The second question was, do changes in hummingbird movements and behaviors affect pollination of tropical plants? They looked at pollination success of a species of heliconia (Heliconia tortuosa – a plant with flowers that look like bright red lobster claws!) across a gradient in forest loss (forest patches ranging from small and isolated to large reserves). They found that plants in large patches of forest produced more seeds than those in small patches of forest.
The third question was how do hummingbirds pollinate? They have found that it is almost impossible to pollinate heliconias by hand. The hummingbirds can do it but they can’t. This remains an interesting mystery that they are working to solve.
Dr. Betts and Dr. Hadley do a lot of this work here in Las Cruces Biological station in San Vito, Costa Rica. While here they set up nets to catch hummingbirds safely, tag the birds or use them in a portable aviary that allows them to observe how they pollinate. The hummingbirds that they focus on
while in Costa Rica are the Green Hermit, Striped Throated Hermit, Violet Sabrewing, and Rufous-
tailed hummingbird.
Dr. Betts.
Dr. Hadley
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