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Ramírez-Fráncel LA, García-Herrera LV, Losada-Prado S, Reinoso-Flórez G, Lim BK, Sánchez F, Sánchez-Hernández A, Guevara G. Skull Morphology, Bite Force, and Diet in Insectivorous Bats from Tropical Dry Forests in Colombia. BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10101012. [PMID: 34681111 PMCID: PMC8533215 DOI: 10.3390/biology10101012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
In Neotropical bats, studies on bite force have focused mainly on differences in trophic ecology, and little is known about whether factors other than body size generate interspecific differences in bite force amongst insectivorous bats and, consequently, in their diets. We tested if bite force is related to skull morphology and also to diet in an assemblage of Neotropical insectivorous bats from tropical dry forests in the inter-Andean central valley in Colombia. It is predicted that the preference of prey types among insectivorous species is based on bite force and cranial characteristics. We also evaluated whether skull morphology varies depending on the species and sex. Cranial measurements and correlations between morphological variation and bite force were examined for 10 insectivorous bat species. We calculated the size-independent mechanical advantage for the mandibular (jaw) lever system. In all species, bite force increased with length of the skull and the jaw more than other cranial measurements. Obligate insectivorous species were morphologically different from the omnivorous Noctilio albiventris, which feeds primarily on insects, but also consumes fish and fruits. Our results show that bite force and skull morphology are closely linked to diets in Neotropical insectivorous bats and, consequently, these traits are key to the interactions within the assemblage and with their prey.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leidy Azucena Ramírez-Fráncel
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia;
- Programa para la Conservación de los Murciélagos de Colombia PCMCo, Bogotá 110911, Colombia
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +57-321-409-2272
| | - Leidy Viviana García-Herrera
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia;
- Programa para la Conservación de los Murciélagos de Colombia PCMCo, Bogotá 110911, Colombia
| | - Sergio Losada-Prado
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia; (S.L.-P.); (G.R.-F.); (G.G.)
| | - Gladys Reinoso-Flórez
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia; (S.L.-P.); (G.R.-F.); (G.G.)
| | - Burton K. Lim
- Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada;
| | - Francisco Sánchez
- Grupo de Investigación ECOTONOS, Programa de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Universidad de los Llanos, Villavicencio 500002, Colombia;
| | - Alfonso Sánchez-Hernández
- Departamento de Matemáticas y Estadística, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia;
| | - Giovany Guevara
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad del Tolima, Altos de Santa Elena, Ibagué 730006, Colombia; (S.L.-P.); (G.R.-F.); (G.G.)
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Sánchez-Losada M, Mancina CA. Diet Segregation between Sexes by a Gregarious Greater Antillean Bat, Phyllonycteris poeyi (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). ACTA CHIROPTEROLOGICA 2020. [DOI: 10.3161/15081109acc2019.21.2.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Margarita Sánchez-Losada
- Centro Oriental de Ecosistemas y Biodiversida jambos, José A. Saco, No. 601, esquina a Barnada. Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
| | - Carlos A. Mancina
- Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, Carretera Varona # 11835, Reparto Parajón, La Habana, Cuba
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Muñoz‐Lazo FJJ, Franco‐Trecu V, Naya DE, Martinelli LA, Cruz‐Neto AP. Trophic niche changes associated with habitat fragmentation in a Neotropical bat species. Biotropica 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando J. J. Muñoz‐Lazo
- Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Rio Claro SP Brasil
| | - Valentina Franco‐Trecu
- Departamento de Ecología y Evolución Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de la República Montevideo Uruguay
| | - Daniel E. Naya
- Departamento de Ecología y Evolución Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de la República Montevideo Uruguay
| | - Luiz A. Martinelli
- Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica Centro de Energia Nuclear para a Agricultura (CENA) Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Piracicaba SP Brasil
| | - Ariovaldo P. Cruz‐Neto
- Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Rio Claro SP Brasil
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Rossoni DM, Costa BMA, Giannini NP, Marroig G. A multiple peak adaptive landscape based on feeding strategies and roosting ecology shaped the evolution of cranial covariance structure and morphological differentiation in phyllostomid bats. Evolution 2019; 73:961-981. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2016] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniela M. Rossoni
- Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences InstituteUniversity of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Bárbara M. A. Costa
- Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences InstituteUniversity of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
| | - Norberto P. Giannini
- Unidad Ejecutora Lillo‐CONICETUniversidad Nacional de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina
| | - Gabriel Marroig
- Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences InstituteUniversity of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil
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Göttlinger T, Schwerdtfeger M, Tiedge K, Lohaus G. What Do Nectarivorous Bats Like? Nectar Composition in Bromeliaceae With Special Emphasis on Bat-Pollinated Species. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2019; 10:205. [PMID: 30847001 PMCID: PMC6393375 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2019.00205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2018] [Accepted: 02/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Floral nectar is the most important reward for pollinators and an integral component of the pollination syndrome. Nectar research has mainly focused on sugars or amino acids, whereas more comprehensive studies on the nectar composition of closely related plant species with different pollination types are rather limited. Nectar composition as well as concentrations of sugars, amino acids, inorganic ions, and organic acids were analyzed for 147 species of Bromeliaceae. This plant family shows a high diversity in terms of floral morphology, flowering time, and predominant pollination types (trochilophilous, trochilophilous/entomophilous, psychophilous, sphingophilous, chiropterophilous). Based on the analyses, we examined the relationship between nectar traits and pollination type in this family. Nectar of all analyzed species contained high amounts of sugars with different proportions of glucose, fructose, and sucrose. The total concentrations of amino acids, inorganic cations, and anions, or organic acids were much lower. The analyses revealed that the sugar composition, the concentrations of inorganic cations and anions as well as the concentration of malate in nectar of bat-pollinated species differed significantly from nectar of species with other pollination types. Flowers of bat-pollinated species contained a higher volume of nectar, which results in a total of about 25-fold higher amounts of sugar in bat-pollinated species than in insect-pollinated species. This difference was even higher for amino acids, inorganic anions and cations, and organic acids (between 50 and 100-fold). In general, bat-pollinated plant species invest large amounts of organic and inorganic compounds for their pollinators. Furthermore, statistical analyses reveal that the characteristics of nectar in Bromeliaceae are more strongly determined by the pollinator type rather than by taxonomic groups or phylogenetic relations. However, a considerable part of the variance cannot be explained by either of the variables, which means that additional factors must be responsible for the differences in the nectar composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Göttlinger
- Molecular Plant Science and Plant Biochemistry, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Michael Schwerdtfeger
- Albrecht-von-Haller-Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Kira Tiedge
- Molecular Plant Science and Plant Biochemistry, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
| | - Gertrud Lohaus
- Molecular Plant Science and Plant Biochemistry, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
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Food resource partitioning in syntopic nectarivorous bats on Puerto Rico. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467414000145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Abstract:Understanding the dietary needs of syntopic species is essential for examining species coexistence and resource partitioning. We analysed stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) to estimate the diet of two putative nectarivorous bats on Puerto Rico, the brown flower bat (Erophylla bombifrons) and the Greater Antillean long-tongued bat (Monophyllus redmani). Isotopic ratios of δ13C and δ15N were obtained from whole blood of both species of bat and tissues of available plant foods and insect prey over 15 wk at the same locality. We used a concentration-dependent Bayesian mixing model to determine probability distributions of feasible dietary contributions for major potential foods used by each species of bat. Additionally, separate dietary estimates were conducted for males and non-reproductive, pregnant and lactating females to determine differences due to reproductive condition. Insects were an important source of protein for M. redmani, whereas E. bombifrons obtained most of its protein from plants. In both species of bat, lactating females had lower assimilated nitrogen than males, suggesting more reliance on plants for protein. We observed no intraspecific differences in assimilated carbon among reproductive conditions. Flight and lactation are energetically expensive and may explain the increased consumption of high-energy foods, such as fruit or nectar, in lactating female bats. Comparison of isotopes between E. bombifrons and M. redmani illustrate the differential use of food resources by these insular syntopic species of bat.
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Unusual temporal niche overlap in a phytophagous bat ensemble of western Cuba. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467413000680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Abstract:We assessed the differences and similarities in diel activities among five phytophagous bat species at two habitats over two seasons within the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve in Cuba. We characterized temporal patterns of activity and overlap of temporal activity for frugivore and nectarivore bat species (Artibeus jamaicensis, Monophyllus redmani, Phyllonycteris poeyi, Phyllops falcatus and Brachyphylla nana) that occur in tropical evergreen forest sites with distinct altitude and vegetation structure during wet and dry seasons. Capture frequencies using mist-nets of 1180 capture events were the empirical basis for analyses. For each species we compared activity patterns between habitats, between seasons, between males and females, as well as between reproductive and non-reproductive females. We also assessed temporal overlap among each possible pair of species at each habitat and used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate assemblage-wide temporal niche overlap using a new algorithm, termed Rosario, designed specifically for temporal data. The two habitats had the same species composition and bat diel rhythms tended to be consistent across habitats, seasons and sexes for most bat species. In general bat species pairwise temporal niche overlap was high, and the ensemble-wide temporal overlap was consistently high across habitats and seasons indicating a common constraint for bat activities. Activity peaks of most bat species coincided at 4–5 h after sunset, this being in sharp contrast to other Neotropical bat assemblages at continental sites where activity peaks usually overlap within the first 2 h after sunset. This strong disparity in timing of activity peaks between continental and insular bat assemblages can provide the framework for the generation of hypotheses that explain the potential role of time as a mediator of ecological interactions in bat assemblages.
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Rojas D, Mancina CA, Flores-Martínez JJ, Navarro L. Phylogenetic signal, feeding behaviour and brain volume in Neotropical bats. J Evol Biol 2013; 26:1925-33. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2013] [Revised: 04/15/2013] [Accepted: 04/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- D. Rojas
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal; Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Spain
| | - C. A. Mancina
- Departamento de Zoología; Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática; La Habana Cuba
| | - J. J. Flores-Martínez
- Departamento de Zoología; Instituto de Biología; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México, D.F México
| | - L. Navarro
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal; Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Spain
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Fair JM, Ryder TB, Loiselle BA, Blake JG, Larson TE, Davis P, Syme J, Perkins GB, Heikoop JM. Estimates of dietary overlap for six species of Amazonian manakin birds using stable isotopes. ISOTOPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES 2013; 49:420-435. [PMID: 23781884 DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2013.784702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
We used stable isotope ratios to determine the metabolic routing fraction of carbon and nitrogen in feathers in addition to faecal analysis to estimate diet overlap of six sympatric species of manakins in the eastern lowland forest of Ecuador. Collectively, all species varied from-23.7 to-32.7 ‰ for δ(13)C, and from 6.0 to 9.9‰ for δ(15)N, with Machaeropterus regulus showing isotopic differences from the other species. We developed a mixing model that explicitly addresses the routing of carbon and nitrogen to feathers. Interestingly, these results suggest a higher proportion of nitrogen and carbon derived from insects than anticipated based on feeding observations and faecal analysis. A concentration-dependent mixing isotopic model was also used to look at dietary proportions. While larvae and arachnids had higher δ(15)N values, these two groups may also be preferred prey of manakins and may be more assimilated into tissues, leading to a potential overestimation of the contribution to diet. This study supports the finding that manakin species, previously thought be primarily frugivorous, contain a significant amount of arthropods in their diet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanne M Fair
- a Los Alamos National Laboratory , Environmental Stewardship , Los Alamos , NM , USA
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ROJAS DANNY, VALE ÁNGEL, FERRERO VICTORIA, NAVARRO LUIS. When did plants become important to leaf-nosed bats? Diversification of feeding habits in the family Phyllostomidae. Mol Ecol 2011; 20:2217-28. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2011.05082.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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