Hummingbirds: A Natural History of Beauty and Pollination

Abstract

Hummingbirds are endemic to the American continent, belong to the family Trochilidae, are the second-largest bird group by number of species in the world, and feed on flower nectar, which provides them with a high sugar content to sustain their rapid metabolism. These birds pollinate a wide variety of plants in a process known as ornithophily, forming a mutualistic biological association in which both organisms benefit. This close hummingbird-plant relationship is of great scientific interest because it has been shown to involve a divergent evolutionary process, in which the species have modified morphological structures to fit together (bill-corolla). This article presents information on the general characteristics of hummingbirds, their natural and evolutionary history, their classification, and their conservation. Since hummingbirds are a group specialized in consuming flower nectar, they are species of great importance for the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems, as they disperse pollen and pollinate the flowers of a wide variety of plants for fruit and seed production, making them fundamental vectors in the diversification of living nature on Earth.