Seasonal patterns in the diet of frugivorous bats in subtropical rainforests of Argentina

SÁNCHEZ, MS; CARRIZO, LV; GIANNINI, NP; BARQUEZ, RM

MAMMALIA

WALTER DE GRUYTER & CO

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2012 vol. 76 p. 269 - 275

0025-1461

The principal goal of our research is to evaluate the dietaryvariation of the frugivorous bats in two contrasting subtropicalrainforests in Argentina (montane rainforest in the NWwith a strong seasonality and lowland rainforest in the NEwith a mild seasonality). Diet was estimated on the basis ofover 1000 dietary records collected along two seasonal annualcycles. Our results indicated that the dominant frugivorousbats exhibit a marked seasonality in the use of fruit resourcesand that some plants represent keystone resources in periodsof general food scarcity. The NW bat ensemble responseto fruit phenology was a strong decrease in the capture ratetoward the end of the dry season. The NE bat ensemble didnot show the same seasonal pattern, and we hypothesize thatother variables are probably more important to determine batabundance. Diet of bats varied in response to spatial changesin the availability of their preferred fruits. For instance, theuse of Solanum , Piper , and other fruits by Sturnira batsappeared to be coupled with patterns of diversity and densityof these resources.