Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:12:00.093Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Seasonal changes in species composition, resource use and reproductive patterns within a guild of nectar-feeding bats in a west Mexican dry forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Ellen B. Sperr ,
Luis Antonio Caballero-Martínez ,
Rodrigo A. Medellin  and
Marco Tschapka
Ellen B. Sperr
Affiliation:
Institute for Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11 D-89069 Ulm, Germany
Luis Antonio Caballero-Martínez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Rodrigo A. Medellin
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Marco Tschapka*
Affiliation:
Institute for Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein Allee 11 D-89069 Ulm, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Seasonal changes in resource use and reproduction within a guild of nectar-feeding phyllostomid bats were studied between 2002 and 2004 in a west Mexican dry forest using mist-net captures and diet analysis over 82 nights during both dry and wet seasons. The local guild consisted of three resident species, Glossophaga soricina, Leptonycteris yerbabuenae, Musonycteris harrisoni, and of Anoura geoffroyi, which was mostly captured during the wet season. The proportion of L. yerbabuenae females more than doubled during the dry season. Diet was accessed by identifying the pollen collected from the bats' bodies and by analysis of faecal material. Bats used at least 28 different nectar plants over the year. In the dry season, 91.9% of all bats carried pollen while only 54.6% did so in the wet season. Bat individuals used the highest number of plant species during the dry season, mainly the cactus Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum, various Bombacaceae and the Capparaceae Cleome spinosa. Niche overlap was higher in the dry season than in the wet season. Musonycteris harrisoni and Leptonycteris yerbabuenae showed the largest overlap and both relied heavily on cactus flowers, whereas G. soricina supplemented its nectar diet with fruits. While reproductive females of most species were found only in the flower-rich dry season, G. soricina showed a bimodal reproductive pattern.

Keywords

bat assemblageschiropterophilycommunity ecologyGlossophaginaeMusonycteris harrisoniPhyllostomidaeseasonality
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 133 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AGUIRRE, L. F., HERREL, A., VAN DAMME, R. & MATTHYSEN, E. 2002. Ecomorphological analysis of trophic niche partitioning in a tropical bat community. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 269:1271–1278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ALTRINGHAM, J. D. 1996. Bats: biology and behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 264 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ALVAREZ, T. & SANCHEZ-CASAS, N. 1997. Notas sobre la alimentation de Musonycteris y Choeroniscus (Mammalia: Phyllostomidae) en Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Mastozoologia 2:113–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ARKINS, A. M., WINNINGTON, A. P., ANDERSON, S. & CLOUT, M. N. 1999. Diet and nectarivorous foraging behaviour of the short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata). Journal of Zoology 247:183–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BEATTIE, A. J. 1971. A technique for the study of insect-borne pollen. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 47:82.Google Scholar
BONACCORSO, F. J. 1979. Foraging and reproductive ecology in a Panamanian bat community. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 24:359–408.Google Scholar
BORCHERT, R., MEYER, S. A., FELGER, R. S. & PORTER-BOLLAND, L. 2004. Environmental control of flowering periodicity in Costa Rican and Mexican tropical dry forests. Global Ecology and Biogeography 13;409–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BULLOCK, S. H., MOONEY, H. A. & MEDINA, E. 1995. Seasonally dry tropical forests. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 450 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHÁVEZ, R. P. 1975. Observaciones en el polen de plantas con probable polinizacion quiropterofila. Anales de la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas 21:115–143.Google Scholar
COLE, F. R. & WILSON, D. E. 2006. Leptonycteris yerbabuenae. Mammalian Species 797:1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DOBAT, K. & PEIKERT-HOLLE, T. 1985. Blüten und Fledermäuse – Bestäubung durch Fledermäuse und Flughunde. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main. 370 pp.Google Scholar
ESTRADA, A. & COATES-ESTRADA, R. 2001. Species composition and reproductive phenology of bats in a tropical landscape at Los Tuxlas, Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology 17:627–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAUTH, J. E., BERNARDO, J., CAMARA, M., RESETARITS, W. J. JR., VAN BUSKIRK, J. & MCCOLLUM, S. A. 1996. Simplifying the jargon of community ecology: a conceptual approach. American Naturalist 147:282–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FINDLEY, J. S., STUDIER, E. H. & WILSON, D. E. 1972. Morphologic properties of bat wings. Journal of Mammalogy 53:429–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLEMING, T. H. 1992. How do fruit- and nectar-feeding birds and mammals track their food resources? Pp. 355–391 in Hunter, M. D., Ohgushi, T. & Price, P. W. (eds.). Effects of resource distribution on plant–animal interactions. Academic Press, Orlando.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLEMING, T. H. 2005. The relationship between species richness of vertebrate mutualists and their food plants in tropical and subtropical communities differs among hemispheres. Oikos 111:556–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLEMING, T. H., HOOPER, E. T. & WILSON, D. E. 1972. Three Central American bat communities: structure, reproductive cycles, and movement patterns. Ecology 53:555–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLEMING, T. H., NUÑEZ, R. A., DA SILVEIRA, L. & STERNBERG, L. 1993. Seasonal changes in the diets of migrant and non-migrant nectarivorous bats as revealed by carbon stable isotope analysis. Oecologia 94:72–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FLEMING, T. H., GEISELMAN, C. & KRESS, W. J. 2009. The evolution of bat pollination: a phylogenetic perspective. Annals of Botany 104:1017–1043.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
FOSTER, R. B. 1996. The seasonal rhythm of fruitfall on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 151–172 in Leigh, E. G., Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds.). The ecology of a tropical forest – seasonal rhythms and long term changes. (Second edition). Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
FREEMAN, P. W. 1995. Nectarivorous feeding mechanisms in bats. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 56:439–463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GIANNINI, N. P. & BRENES, F. V. 2001. Flight cage observations of foraging mode in Phyllostomus discolor, P. hastatus, and Glossophaga commissarisi. Biotropica 33:546–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HEITHAUS, R. E. 1982. Coevolution between bats and plants. Pp. 287–325 in Kunz, T. H. (ed.). Ecology of bats. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
HORNER, M. A., FLEMING, T. H. & SAHLEY, C. T. 1998. Foraging behaviour and energetics of a nectar-feeding bat, Leptonycteris curasoae (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Journal of Zoology 244:575–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KREBS, C. J. 1989. Ecological methodology. Harper and Row, New York. 645 pp.Google Scholar
LOBO, J. A., QUESEDA, M., STONER, K. E., FUCHS, E. J., HERRERIAS-DIEGO, Y., ROJAS, J. & SABORIO, G. 2003. Factors affecting phenological patterns of bombacaceous trees in seasonal forests in Costa Rica and Mexico. American Journal of Botany 90:1054–1063.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MEDELLÍN, R. A., ARITA, H. T. & SÁNCHEZ, Ó. H. 1997. Identificación de los murciélagos de México. Asociación Mexicana de Mastozoología, A.C., México, D.F.83 pp.Google Scholar
MUCHHALA, N. 2006. Nectar bat stows huge tongue in its rib cage. Nature 444:701–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MURRAY, K. G., KINSMAN, S. & BRONSTEIN, J. L. 2000. Plant–animal interactions. Pp. 243–302 in Nadkarni, N. M. & Wheelwright, N. T. (eds.). Monteverde, ecology and conservation of a tropical cloud forest. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
NORBERG, U. M. & RAYNER, J. M. V. 1987. Ecological morphology and flight in bats (Mammalia; Chiroptera): wing adaptations, flight performance, foraging strategy and echolocation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 316:335–427.Google Scholar
ORTEGA, J. & ALARCON-D., I. 2008. Anoura geoffroyi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Mammalian Species 818:1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PÉREZ, A. R., MARTÍNEZ-CORONEL, M. & LÓPEZ, R. V. 2003. Consumo de polen de una colonia de maternidad de Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae en Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México. Anales de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 74:43–66.Google Scholar
PETERSON, A. T., ORTEGA-HUERTA, M. A., BARTLEY, J., SÁNCHEZ-CORDERO, V., SOBERÓN, J., BUDDEMEIER, R. H. & STOCKWELL, D. R. B. 2002. Future projections for Mexican faunas under global climate change scenarios. Nature 416:626–629.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
PETIT, S. 1997. The diet and reproductive schedules of Leptonycteris curasoae and Glossophaga longirostris elongata (Chiroptera: Glossophaginae) on Curaçao. Biotropica 29:214–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RACEY, P. 1988. Reproductive assessment in bats. Pp. 31–45 in Kunz, T. H. (ed.). Ecological and behavioral methods in the study of bats. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
RAMIREZ-PULIDO, J., ARMELLA, M. A. & CASTRO-CAMPILLO, A. 1993. Reproductive patterns of three neotropical bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Guerrero, Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 38:24–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RAMIREZ-PULIDO, J., GALINDO-GALINDO, C., CASTRO-CAMPILLO, A., SALAME-MENDEZ, A. & ARMELLA, M. A. 2001. Colony size fluctuation of Anoura geoffroyi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) and temperature characterization in a Mexican cave. Southwestern Naturalist 46:358–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROJAS-MARTINEZ, A., VALIENTE-BANUET, A., DEL CORO ARIZMENDI, M., ALCANTARA-EGUREN, A. & ARITA, H. T. 1999. Seasonal distribution of the long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) in North America: does a generalized migration pattern really exist? Journal of Biogeography 26:1065–1077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROUBIK, D. W. & MORENO, J. E. 1991. Pollen and spores of Barro Colorado Island. Monographs in Systematic Botany 36:1–268.Google Scholar
RZEDOWSKI, J. 1983. Vegetación de México. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional. México, D.F.432 pp.Google Scholar
SÁNCHEZ, F., ALVAREZ, J., ARIZA, C. & CADENA, A. 2007. Bat assemblage structure in two dry forests of Colombia: composition, species richness, and relative abundance. Mammalian Biology 72:82–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHALDACH, W. J. & MCLAUGHLIN, C. A. 1960. A new genus and species of glossophagine bat from Colima, Mexico. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 37:1–8.Google Scholar
SECRETARIA DE PROGRAMACIÓN Y PRESUPUESTO. 1981. Sintesis geográfica de Colima. INEGI, Mexico, D.F.31 pp.Google Scholar
SOLMSEN, E. H. 1998. New world nectar-feeding bats: biology, morphology and craniometric approach to systematics. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 44:1–118.Google Scholar
SOSA, M. & SORIANO, P. J. 1993. Solapamiento de dieta entre Leptonycteris curasoae y Glossophaga longirostris (Mammalia: Chiroptera). Revista de Biología Tropical 41:529–532.Google Scholar
START, A. N. 1974. The feeding biology in relation to food sources of nectarivorous bats (Chiroptera: Macroglossinae) in Malaysia. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.Google Scholar
STEPHENS, C. & TYSON, E. 1975. The nectar bat, Glossophaga soricina, as a pest of bananas in Panama. Tropical Agriculture (Trinidad) 52:85–89.Google Scholar
STONER, K. E. 2001. Differential habitat use and reproductive patterns of frugivorous bats in tropical dry forest of northwestern Costa Rica. Canadian Journal of Zoology 79:1626–1633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
STONER, K. E. 2003. Murciélagos nectarívoros y frugívoros del bosque tropical caducifolio de la Reserva de la Biosfera Chamela-Cuixmala. Pp. 379–395 in Noguera, F. A., Quesada, M., Vega, J. & Garcia-Aldrete, A. (eds.). Historia natural del bosque caducifolia de Chamela. Instituto de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de México, México, D.F.Google Scholar
STONER, K. E. & TIMM, R. M. 2004. Tropical dry-forest mammals of Palo Verde. Pp. 48–66 in Frankie, G. W., Mata, A. & Vinson, S. B. (eds.). Biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica. Learning the lessons in a seasonal dry forest. University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
STONER, K. E., O.-SALAZAR, K., R.-FERNÁNDEZ, R. C. & QUESADA, M. 2003. Population dynamics, reproduction, and diet of the lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris curasoae) in Jalisco, Mexico: implications for conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation 12:357–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TAMSITT, J. & NAGORSEN, D. 1982. Anoura cultrata. Mammalian Species 179:1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TER BRAAK, C. J. F. & ŠMILAUER, P. 2002. CANOCO reference manual and CanoDraw for Windows User's Guide: software for canonical community ordination (version 4.5). Microcomputer Power, Ithaca, New York. 500 pp.Google Scholar
THOMAS, D. W. 1988. Analysis of diets of plant-visiting bats. Pp. 211–220 in Kunz, T. H. (ed.). Ecological and behavioural methods for the study of bats. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
TIMM, R. M., WILSON, D. E., CLAUSON, B. L., LAVAL, R. K. & VAUGHAN, C. S. 1989. Mammals of the La Selva–Braulio Carillo complex, Costa Rica. North American Fauna 75:1–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TSCHAPKA, M. 2003. Pollination of the understorey palm Calyptrogyne ghiesbreghtiana by hovering and perching bats. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 80:281–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TSCHAPKA, M. 2004. Energy density patterns of nectar resources permit coexistence within a guild of Neotropical flower-visiting bats. Journal of Zoology 263:7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TSCHAPKA, M. 2005. Reproduction of the nectarivore bat Glossophaga commissarisi in the Costa Rican rainforest. Biotropica 37:408–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TSCHAPKA, M. & DRESSLER, S. 2002. Chiropterophily: on bat-flowers and flower-bats. Curtis's Botanical Magazine (ser. 6) 19:114–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TSCHAPKA, M., SPERR, E. B., CABALLERO-MARTINEZ, L. A. & MEDELLIN, R. A. 2008. Diet and cranial morphology of Musonycteris harrisoni, a highly specialized nectar-feeding bat in Western Mexico. Journal of Mammalogy 89:924–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VANDERMEER, J. 1983. Banana (Plátano, Banano). Pp. 75–77 in Janzen, D. H. (ed.). Costa Rican natural history. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
VILLA-R., B. 1967. Los murciélagos de México. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.491 pp.Google Scholar
VOGEL, S. 1958. Fledermausblumen in Südamerika. Österreichische Botanische Zeitschrift 104:491–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VOIGT, C. C. 2003. Reproductive energetics of the nectar-feeding bat Glossophaga soircina (Phyllostomidae). Journal of Comparative Physiology B 173:79–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VOIGT, C. C. & WINTER, Y. 1999. Energetic cost of hovering flight in nectar-feeding bats (Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae) and its scaling in moths, birds and bats. Journal of Comparative Physiology B 169;38–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VON HELVERSEN, O. 1993. Adaptations of flowers to the pollination by glossophagine bats. Pp. 167–174 in Barthlott, W., Naumann, C. W., Schmidt-Loske, K. & Schuchmann, K.-L. (eds.). Plant–animal interactions in tropical environments. Museum König, Bonn.Google Scholar
VON HELVERSEN, O. & WINTER, Y. 2003. Glossophagine bats and their flowers: Costs and benefits for plants and pollinators. Pp. 346–397 in Kunz, T. H. & Fenton, M. B. (eds.). Ecology of bats. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
WILSON, D. E. & REEDER, D. M. 2005. Mammal species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic reference. (Third edition). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 2142 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WINTER, Y. & VON HELVERSEN, O. 2003. Operational tongue length in phyllostomid nectar-feeding bats. Journal of Mammalogy 84:886–896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZORTEA, M. 2003. Reproductive patterns and feeding habits of three nectarivorous bats (Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae) from the Brazilian Cerrado. Brazilian Journal of Biology 63:159–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed