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Isotopic evidence for seed transfer from successional areas into forests by short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia spp.; Phyllostomidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2012

Christian C. Voigt ,
Silke L. Voigt-Heucke  and
Antje S. Kretzschmar
Christian C. Voigt*
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany Institute of Biology, Animal Behaviour, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustr. 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Silke L. Voigt-Heucke
Affiliation:
Institute of Biology, Animal Behaviour, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustr. 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Antje S. Kretzschmar
Affiliation:
Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Email: voigt@izw-berlin.de
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Abstract:

Neotropical fruit-eating bats play a crucial role in forest regeneration by dispersing seeds of pioneer plants from forests into deforested areas. However, later in succession bats may carry seeds in both directions. We used an isotopic approach to reveal the direction of seed transfer mediated by three co-existing short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia castanea, C. sowelli and C. perspicillata) between a forest and an adjacent mid-successional site (>15 y since deforestation); two habitats where individuals of the genus Piper differed in stable carbon isotope ratios by ~2.5‰. In a feeding experiment, we confirmed that δ13C of seeds is not altered by digestive processes. We then collected seeds defecated by bats of the genus Carollia and found that δ13C of these seeds is higher than those of Piper individuals growing in the forest, irrespective of whether bats were captured in or outside the forest. We conclude that bats of the genus Carollia were more likely to carry seeds from successional areas into the forest than in the opposite direction.

Keywords

δ13CChiropterarain forestreforestationseed rainsuccessiontropics
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , March 2012 , pp. 181 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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