Predation of entangled bats captured in mist-nets is common but infrequently documented. As such, this welfare issue is often not considered when mist-netting surveys are being designed. Margays (Leoparduswiedii) are small neotropical cats that are known to have a varied diet and exhibit opportunistic hunting behaviour. Despite bats not having been frequently reported as a prey item for margays, studies on this felid’s feeding ecology remain scarce. We discuss the potential for margays to feed on bats when they become entangled in mist nets, providing two examples from Cusuco National Park, Honduras. In light of this, we provide recommendations as to how such opportunistic predation events can be mitigated in future surveys.

ResumenLos colibríes son importantes polinizadores del Neotrópico y son indicadores de perturbación de la vegetación. Para conservarlos, se requiere conocer los recursos florales que utilizan. En este trabajo documentamos las especies de colibríes y las especies de plantas que usan como alimento durante parte de la estación seca (enero-marzo 2013) en la Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Lagartos, Yucatán; exploramos si cada especie de planta es visitada en proporción a la abundancia de sus flores y si existe una correlación temporal entre la abundancia de ambos grupos. AbstractHummingbirds are important pollinators in the Neotropics and are also indicators of vegetation disturbance. In order to preserve them it is necessary to know the floral resources they use. In this study, we recorded the hummingbird species and the flowers they visited during part of the dry season (January-March 2013), in the Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, Yucatán, exploring if any plant is visited in a different frequency than expected by its flowers' number and if there is any correlation between flowers and birds' abundance. We travelled along paths and observed four hummingbird species: Doricha eliza, Amazilia rutila, Amazilia yucatanensis and Archilochus colubris; visiting flowers of six plant species: Dicliptera sexangularis, Malvaviscus arboreus, Agave angustifolia, Bravaisia berlanderiana, Ernodea littoralis and Cordia sebestena. Dicliptera sexangularis's flowers were visited by D. eliza in a higher proportion than expected by their abundance while M. arboreus and A angustifolia were visited more frequently by A. rutila than expected. Doricha eliza and A. rutila abundance was correlated to the flower abundance of D. sexangularis and M. arboreus. These flower species might be important in supporting hummingbirds during a season in which flower availability is low in northern Yucatán.

Intraspecific plant chemodiversity plays a fundamental role in interactions between plants and their interaction partners. Individuals of a plant species can be clustered into chemotypes by dominant chemical compounds or their chemical composition. Intraspecific stands of plant communities can vary in the number and type of plant chemotypes that grow in them (i.e., chemotype richness). Chemotypic diversity at the stand level is a special case of intraspecific diversity that is predicted to increase stand-level ecosystem functioning. Here we describe a biodiversity experiment in which we manipulated intraspecific plant chemodiversity at the plot level using six different chemotypes of common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L., Asteraceae). We tested the effects of chemotype identity and plot-level chemotype richness (1-6) on plant growth and reproductive traits under field conditions. We found that plant chemotypes differed in growth and reproductive traits, both at the plant level, and at the plot level, and that reproductive plant traits and plot-level trait means were affected by tansy chemodiversity. The plot-level trait means were influenced by the presence or absence of certain chemotypes in a plot. The community's headspace terpenoid blend minimally reflected plot-level leaf terpenoid compound blends. Although tradeoffs between chemodiversity and growth and reproductive traits were observed, the links between chemodiversity and traits expressed themselves in the early establishment but dissolved over time, suggesting that different chemotypes adopt different growth strategies, which may facilitate their establishment in nature. This long-term field experiment will allow for further investigation of the consequences of intraspecific chemodiversity for plant-insect interactions and insect community assembly.