Gastrointestinal and renal responses to variable water intake in whitebellied sunbirds and New Holland honeyeaters

Nectarivores face a constant challenge in terms of water balance, experiencing water loading or dehydration when switching between food plants or between feeding and fasting. To understand how whitebellied sunbirds and New Holland honeyeaters meet the challenges of varying preformed water load, we used the elimination of Intramuscular-injected [14C]-L-glucose and 3H 2 O to quantify intestinal and renal water handling on diets varying in sugar concentration. Both sunbirds and honeyeaters showed significant modulation of intestinal water absorption, allowing excess water to be shunted through th... Mehr ...