Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination

Electrostatic phenomena are known to enhance both wind- and insect-mediated pollination, but have not yet been described for nectar-feeding vertebrates. Here we demonstrate that wild Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) can carry positive charges up to 800 pC while in flight (mean ± s.d.: 66 ± 12...

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Autores principales: Badger, Marc, Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel, von Rabenau, Lisa, Smiley, Ashley, Dudley, Robert
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Research Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26421845
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138003
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author Badger, Marc
Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel
von Rabenau, Lisa
Smiley, Ashley
Dudley, Robert
author_facet Badger, Marc
Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel
von Rabenau, Lisa
Smiley, Ashley
Dudley, Robert
author_sort Badger, Marc
collection PubMed
description Electrostatic phenomena are known to enhance both wind- and insect-mediated pollination, but have not yet been described for nectar-feeding vertebrates. Here we demonstrate that wild Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) can carry positive charges up to 800 pC while in flight (mean ± s.d.: 66 ± 129 pC). Triboelectric charging obtained by rubbing an isolated hummingbird wing against various plant structures generated charges up to 700 pC. A metal hummingbird model charged to 400 pC induced bending of floral stamens in four plants (Nicotiana, Hemerocallis, Penstemon, and Aloe spp.), and also attracted falling Lycopodium spores at distances of < 2 mm. Electrostatic forces may therefore influence pollen transfer onto nectar-feeding birds.
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spelling pubmed-45893112015-10-02 Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination Badger, Marc Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel von Rabenau, Lisa Smiley, Ashley Dudley, Robert PLoS One Research Article Electrostatic phenomena are known to enhance both wind- and insect-mediated pollination, but have not yet been described for nectar-feeding vertebrates. Here we demonstrate that wild Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) can carry positive charges up to 800 pC while in flight (mean ± s.d.: 66 ± 129 pC). Triboelectric charging obtained by rubbing an isolated hummingbird wing against various plant structures generated charges up to 700 pC. A metal hummingbird model charged to 400 pC induced bending of floral stamens in four plants (Nicotiana, Hemerocallis, Penstemon, and Aloe spp.), and also attracted falling Lycopodium spores at distances of < 2 mm. Electrostatic forces may therefore influence pollen transfer onto nectar-feeding birds. Public Library of Science 2015-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4589311/ /pubmed/26421845 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138003 Text en © 2015 Badger et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Badger, Marc
Ortega-Jimenez, Victor Manuel
von Rabenau, Lisa
Smiley, Ashley
Dudley, Robert
Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title_full Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title_fullStr Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title_full_unstemmed Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title_short Electrostatic Charge on Flying Hummingbirds and Its Potential Role in Pollination
title_sort electrostatic charge on flying hummingbirds and its potential role in pollination
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26421845
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138003
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