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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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García‐Herrera LV, Ramírez‐Fráncel LA, Guevara G, Reinoso‐Flórez G, Sánchez‐Hernández A, Lim BK, Losada‐Prado S. Foraging strategies, craniodental traits, and interaction in the bite force of Neotropical frugivorous bats (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae). Ecol Evol 2021; 11:13756-13772. [PMID: 34707815 PMCID: PMC8525122 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Bats in the family Phyllostomidae exhibit great diversity in skull size and morphology that reflects the degree of resource division and ecological overlap in the group. In particular, the subfamily Stenodermatinae has high morphological diversification associated with cranial and mandibular traits that are associated with the ability to consume the full range of available fruits (soft and hard).We analyzed craniodental traits and their relationship to the bite force in 343 specimens distributed in seven species of stenodermatine bats with two foraging strategies: nomadic and sedentary frugivory. We evaluated 19 traits related to feeding and bite force in live animals by correcting bite force with body size.We used a generalized linear model (GLM) and post hoc tests to determine possible relationships and differences between cranial traits, species, and sex. We also used Blomberg's K to measure the phylogenetic signal and phylogenetic generalized least-squares (PGLS) to ensure the phylogenetic independence of the traits.We found that smaller nomadic species, A. anderseni and A. phaeotis , have a similar bite force to the large species A. planirostris and A. lituratus; furthermore, P. helleri registered a bite force similar to that of the sedentary bat, S. giannae. Our study determined that all the features of the mandible and most of the traits of the skull have a low phylogenetic signal. Through the PGLS, we found that the diet and several cranial features (mandibular toothrow length, dentary length, braincase breadth, mastoid breadth, greatest length of skull, condylo-incisive length, and condylo-canine length) determined bite force performance among Stenodermatiane.Our results reinforce that skull size is a determining factor in the bite force, but also emphasize the importance of its relationships with morphology, ecology, and phylogeny of the species, which gives us a better understanding of the evolutionary adaptions of this highly diverse Neotropical bat group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leidy Viviana García‐Herrera
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ)Facultad de CienciasUniversidad del TolimaIbaguéColombia
| | - Leidy Azucena Ramírez‐Fráncel
- Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ)Facultad de CienciasUniversidad del TolimaIbaguéColombia
| | - Giovany Guevara
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ)Facultad de CienciasUniversidad del TolimaIbaguéColombia
| | - Gladys Reinoso‐Flórez
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ)Facultad de CienciasUniversidad del TolimaIbaguéColombia
| | | | - Burton K. Lim
- Department of Natural HistoryRoyal Ontario MuseumTorontoONCanada
| | - Sergio Losada‐Prado
- Departamento de Biología & Grupo de Investigación en Zoología (GIZ)Facultad de CienciasUniversidad del TolimaIbaguéColombia
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Ingala MR, Simmons NB, Wultsch C, Krampis K, Provost KL, Perkins SL. Molecular diet analysis of neotropical bats based on fecal DNA metabarcoding. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:7474-7491. [PMID: 34188828 PMCID: PMC8216975 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Revised: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Bat communities in the Neotropics are some of the most speciose assemblages of mammals on Earth, with regions supporting more than 100 sympatric species with diverse feeding ecologies. Because bats are small, nocturnal, and volant, it is difficult to directly observe their feeding habits, which has resulted in their classification into broadly defined dietary guilds (e.g., insectivores, carnivores, and frugivores). Apart from these broad guilds, we lack detailed dietary information for many species and therefore have only a limited understanding of interaction networks linking bats and their diet items. In this study, we used DNA metabarcoding of plants, arthropods, and vertebrates to investigate the diets of 25 bat species from the tropical dry forests of Lamanai, Belize. Our results report some of the first detection of diet items for the focal bat taxa, adding rich and novel natural history information to the field of bat ecology. This study represents a comprehensive first effort to apply DNA metabarcoding to bat diets at Lamanai and provides a useful methodological framework for future studies testing hypotheses about coexistence and niche differentiation in the context of modern high-throughput molecular data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa R. Ingala
- Division of MammalsDepartment of Vertebrate ZoologyNational Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonDCUSA
- Richard Gilder Graduate SchoolThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate ZoologyThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Division of Invertebrate ZoologyThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
| | - Nancy B. Simmons
- Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate ZoologyThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
| | - Claudia Wultsch
- Sackler Institute for Comparative GenomicsThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics LaboratoryHunter CollegeCity University of New YorkNew YorkNYUSA
| | - Konstantinos Krampis
- Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics LaboratoryHunter CollegeCity University of New YorkNew YorkNYUSA
- Department of Biological SciencesHunter CollegeCity University of New YorkNew YorkNYUSA
- Institute of Computational BiomedicineWeill Cornell Medical CollegeNew YorkNYUSA
| | - Kaiya L. Provost
- Richard Gilder Graduate SchoolThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Department of OrnithologyThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal BiologyThe Ohio State UniversityColumbusOHUSA
| | - Susan L. Perkins
- Division of Invertebrate ZoologyThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
- Sackler Institute for Comparative GenomicsThe American Museum of Natural HistoryNew YorkNYUSA
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Heterogeneous relationships between rates of speciation and body size evolution across vertebrate clades. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 5:101-110. [PMID: 33106601 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-01321-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Several theories predict that rates of phenotypic evolution should be related to the rate at which new lineages arise. However, drawing general conclusions regarding the coupling between these fundamental evolutionary rates has been difficult due to the inconsistent nature of previous results combined with uncertainty over the most appropriate methodology with which to investigate such relationships. Here we propose and compare the performance of several different approaches for testing associations between lineage-specific rates of speciation and phenotypic evolution using phylogenetic data. We then use the best-performing method to test relationships between rates of speciation and body size evolution in five major vertebrate clades (amphibians, birds, mammals, ray-finned fish and squamate reptiles) at two phylogenetic scales. Our results provide support for the long-standing view that rates of speciation and morphological evolution are generally positively related at broad macroevolutionary scales, but they also reveal a substantial degree of heterogeneity in the strength and direction of these associations at finer scales across the vertebrate tree of life.
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Ramírez‐Mejía AF, Urbina‐Cardona JN, Sánchez F. Functional diversity of phyllostomid bats in an urban–rural landscape: A scale‐dependent analysis. Biotropica 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrés F. Ramírez‐Mejía
- Facultad de Estudios Ambientales y Rurales Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá Colombia
- ECOTONOS (Research group) Universidad de los Llanos Villavicencio Colombia
| | | | - Francisco Sánchez
- ECOTONOS (Research group) Universidad de los Llanos Villavicencio Colombia
- Museo de Historia Natural‐Unillanos Programa de Biología Facultad de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería Universidad de los Llanos Villavicencio Colombia
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Drivers of bat roles in Neotropical seed dispersal networks: abundance is more important than functional traits. Oecologia 2020; 193:189-198. [PMID: 32405932 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04662-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
While functional traits can facilitate or constrain interactions between pair of species in ecological communities, relative abundances regulate the probabilities of encounter among individuals. However, the relative importance of traits and relative abundances for the role species play in seed dispersion networks remains poorly explored. Here, we analyzed 20 Neotropical seed dispersal networks distributed from Mexico to southeastern Brazil to evaluate how relative abundance and functional traits influence bat species' roles in seed dispersal networks. We tested how bat relative abundance and traits relate to species contribution to between-module (c metric) and within-module connectivity (z metric) and their position and potential to mediate indirect effects between species (betweenness centrality). Our results indicate that relative abundance is the main determinant of the role bats play in the networks, while traits such as aspect ratio show modest yet statistically significant importance in predicting specific roles. Moreover, all seed dispersal networks presented two or three superabundant obligatory frugivore species that interacted with a high number of plants. The modest influence of the functional traits on species' roles is likely related to the low variation of morphological traits related to foraging ecology, which reduces the chances of morphological mismatching between consumers and resources in the system. In this scenario, abundant bats have higher chances of encountering resources and being capable of consuming them which leads such species to play critical roles in the community by acting as module hubs and network connectors.
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