Ecological and evolutionary implications of digestive processes: Bird preferences and the sugar constituents of floral nectar and fruit pulp

Plants pollinated and dispersed by different groups of birds offer different kinds of sugars in nectar and fruit pulp. The preferences and physiological traits of avian pollinators and seed dispersers are broadly correlated with the sugar composition of the nectar and fruit that they feed on and appear to have influenced the evolution of the sugar composition of the rewards that plants offer. Hummingbirds prefer sucrose whereas many nectar- and fruit-eating passerines prefer glucose and fructose. Preference for hexoses in passerines seems to be associated with poor sucrose assimilation resulting from two physiological mechanisms: lack of intestinal sucrase activity and fast passage rates. Sucrase activity absence appears to be restricted to a single phylogenetic group (the sturnid-muscicapid lineage). Fast passage rates seem to be characteristic of many small frugivores and to hinder the assimilation of complex nutrients that require hydrolysis before absorption. Hummingbirds have extremely specialized digestive traits that allow them to assimilate sucrose at high rates and with extremely high efficiency. These specialized digestive traits appear not to be present in many nectar-feeding passerines.