Evidence for ecological causation of sexual dimorphism in a hummingbird.

Unambiguous examples of ecological causes of animal sexual dimorphism are rare. Here we present evidence for ecological causation of sexual dimorphism in the bill morphology of a hummingbird, the purple-throated carib. This hummingbird is the sole pollinator of two Heliconia species whose flowers correspond to the bills of either males or females. Each sex feeds most quickly at the flower species approximating its bill dimensions, which supports the hypothesis that floral specialization has driven the evolution of bill dimorphism. Further evidence for ecological causation of sexual dimorphism was provided by a geographic replacement of one Heliconia species by the other and the subsequent development of a floral dimorphism, with one floral morph matching the bills of males and the other of females.

Biogeography and ecological setting of Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents.

Within the endemic invertebrate faunas of hydrothermal vents, five biogeographic provinces are recognized. Invertebrates at two Indian Ocean vent fields (Kairei and Edmond) belong to a sixth province, despite ecological settings and invertebrate-bacterial symbioses similar to those of both western Pacific and Atlantic vents. Most organisms found at these Indian Ocean vent fields have evolutionary affinities with western Pacific vent faunas, but a shrimp that ecologically dominates Indian Ocean vents closely resembles its Mid-Atlantic counterpart. These findings contribute to a global assessment of the biogeography of chemosynthetic faunas and indicate that the Indian Ocean vent community follows asymmetric assembly rules biased toward Pacific evolutionary alliances.