Abstract

SUAREZ-CASTRO, Andrés F  and  MONTENEGRO, Olga L. Consumo de plantas pioneras por murciélagos frugívoros en una localidad de la orinoquía colombiana. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2015, vol.22, n.1, pp.125-139. ISSN 0327-9383.

Feeding behavior plays a major role as a resource partitioning strategy within assemblages of fruit bats. Although Colombia is one of the most diverse countries in terms of bat diversity, the influence of phenology of consumed resources on bat diets in local ensembles is still poorly known. In this study, we analyze trophic structure of a fruit bat assemblage in a locality of Colombian Orinoco, and we evaluate its relationship with fruiting patterns of four tree species (Cecropia peltata, C. sciadophylla, Ficus schultesii, and F. gomelleira) and two shrub species (Piper arboreum and P. obliquum), all of them representing focal dietary resources of Neotropical fruit bats. The analysis of 191 dietary records of 20 species shows that vertical stratification constitutes the main mechanism for resource partitioning among the studied bat ensemble. This mechanism is independent of the fructification patterns of the evaluated plants. Bats fed mainly on plants with continuous fructification patterns and spatially homogenous distributions. Therefore, categories based on the preference of plants with different fructification strategies do not explain the consumption patterns of the studied ensemble.

Keywords : Chiroptera; Diet; Foraging strategies; Phenology; Trophic structure.

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