We review digestion and osmoregulation in the avian gut, with an emphasis on the ways
these different functions might interact to support or constrain each other and the ways they …

This book is useful for anyone interested in the basic structural and functional characteristics
of the digestive system and how these vary among vertebrate groups and species. It …

Several characteristics of flowers and fruits have been suggested as comprising syndromes
of characters that indicate particular classes of pollinators and fruit dispersers. Common …

Do animal species that normally consume large meals at long intervals evolve to down-
regulate their metabolic physiology while fasting and to up-regulate it steeply on feeding? To …

Hummingbirds and nectar bats coevolved with the plants they visit to feed on floral nectars
rich in sugars. The extremely high metabolic costs imposed by small size and hovering flight …

Bat species in the monophyletic family Phyllostomidae feed on blood, insects, small
vertebrates, nectar, fruit and complex omnivorous mixtures. We used nitrogen stable isotope …

A first comprehensive dataset of nectar sugar composition and concentration in
Bromeliaceae is presented, covering 111 species belonging to all three subfamilies. Based …

Summary 1 Mammals usually derive energy from metabolizing fat and glycogen stores
combined with exogenous food. Nectarivorous bats mostly consume a diet low in both fat …

Diet is a key factor in determining and structuring animal diversity and adaptive radiations.
The mammalian fossil record preserves phenotypic evidence of many dietary shifts, whereas …

The adaptive interplay between feeding habits and digestive physiology is demonstrated by
the Burmese python, which in response to feeding infrequently has evolved the capacity to …