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Diversity of fruits in Artibeus lituratus diet in urban and natural habitats in Brazil: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2020

Rafael de Souza Laurindo  and
Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
Rafael de Souza Laurindo*
Affiliation:
Instituto Sul Mineiro de Estudos e Conservação da Natureza, Monte Belo, MG, Brazil
Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Turner Hall, 1102 S Goodwin Ave, Urbana, Illinois, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Rafael de Souza Laurindo, Email: rafaelslaurindo@gmail.com
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Abstract

The great fruit-eating bat (Artibeus lituratus) is a large-sized species that forages primarily on fruits. This species is widespread throughout the Neotropics, where it is common in natural areas and also occupies forest patches and cities. In this study, we review the composition of Artibeus lituratus diet in Brazil as well as the size of fruits and seeds, plant geographic origin, and sampling methods used in natural versus urban habitats. We show that Artibeus lituratus is able to consume a higher proportion of exotic fruits with large seeds in urban environments than in natural areas. Fruit diameter was not statistically different between environments, but both fruit and seed diameters are smaller when detected by fecal sampling than by other methods. This difference is likely due to the fact that in natural habitats studies are predominantly based on fecal samples, which hinders the detection of large unswallowed seeds. Consequently, we recommend the use of complementary sampling methods (not only the widely used technique of fecal sorting) in order to produce more accurate descriptions of frugivorous bats’ diets. We suggest that the ability to exploit fruits of exotic plant species including the ones with large seeds may be a key trait for the persistence of A. lituratus in urban habitats.

Keywords

ChiropterafrugivoryNeotropicsplant–animal interactionsseed dispersalurbanization
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , March 2020 , pp. 65 - 71
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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