Dietary Plasticity in the Ryukyu Flying Fox on a Subtropical Island at the Northern Range Limit of<i>Pteropus</i>

Nakamoto, Atsushi; Kinjo, Kozen; Izawa, Masako

doi:10.3161/15081109acc2015.17.1.009

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…On the other hand, F. microcarpa and F. superba have been widely planted as common ornamental trees in urban or human residential areas throughout their distributional range in tropical-subtropical East Asia [ 49 , 53 ]. This may explain the observations that Ryukyu flying foxes elsewhere may feed on more diverse items in forests but use F. microcarpa as a core food plant in urbanized areas [ 18 ]. Urbanization is less intensive in Iriomote and fruit bats are still capable of finding a sufficient food supply in more natural habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes and relationships with fig abundance in East-Asian subtropical island forests

et al. 2017

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BackgroundFigs are widely distributed key resources to many tropical-subtropical animals, and flying-foxes are major consumers and seed dispersers of figs. Bat-fig interrelationships, however, may vary among species differing in fruiting traits, i.e., bat- versus bird-dispersed figs. We examined Ryukyu flying-fox foraging dispersion and the relationships with tree species composition and fig abundance in forests of Iriomote Island.ResultsBat foraging dispersion showed no spatial patterns with respect to different areas of the island, and was not explained by heterogeneity, density, or basal area (BA) of total trees, nor by relative density or BA of fruiting trees or total fruiting figs among sites. Instead, bat densities were positively dependent on the relative density of total figs, and particularly the relative BA of bat-dispersed figs Ficus septica and F. variegata. Both species were dominant figs in forests, fruiting asynchronously with long crop seasons, and were used as predominant foods. Bats foraged mostly solitarily and the mean density was in a hump-shaped relationship with crop sizes of the dominant bat-figs. These two species and Ficus benguetensis are larger-sized bat-figs, all contained more seeds, higher dry-pulp mass and water mass, but not necessarily water content. By approximate estimation, higher proportions of seeds of these bat-figs would have been removed from fruits through the bat consumption, than that of small-sized bird-figs like F. virgata, F. superba, and F. microcarpa.ConclusionsThe foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes in forests depends on the availability of the most abundant bat-figs that serve as predominant foods. Intermediate levels of crop sizes of theses figs appear most fit with their solitary foraging. Our results suggest that as density and BA coverage of these dominant bat-figs are below a certain level, their effectiveness to attract bats may dwindle and so would their chance of dispersal by bats.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes and relationships with fig abundance in East-Asian subtropical island forests

et al. 2017

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“…More important than the width of the fruit is its weight, and pteropodids can carry heavy fruits relative to their body weight. This has rarely been described, but the weight of carried fruits has ranged from 0.5 to 1.6x the body weight of the bat (Nakamoto et al, 2015;Mahandran et al, 2018). Therefore, pteropodids of more than 1 kg could potentially have the capacity to disperse fruits of more than 1.5 kg -though this requires further investigation.…”

Section: Fruit Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

Aziz¹,

McConkey

Tanalgo

et al. 2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Despite extensive documentation of the ecological and economic importance of Old World fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) and the many threats they face from humans, negative attitudes towards pteropodids have persisted, fuelled by perceptions of bats as being pests and undesirable neighbours. Such long-term negativity towards bats is now further exacerbated by more recent disease-related concerns, particularly associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic. There remains an urgent need to investigate and highlight the positive and beneficial aspects of bats across the Old World. While previous reviews have summarised these extensively, numerous new studies conducted over the last 36 years have provided further valuable data and insights which warrant an updated review. Here we synthesise research on pteropodid-plant interactions, comprising diet, ecological roles, and ecosystem services, conducted during 1985-2020. We uncovered a total of 311 studies covering 75 out of the known 201 pteropodid species (37%), conducted in 47 countries. The majority of studies documented diet (52% of all studies; 67 pteropodid species), followed by foraging movement (49%; 50 pteropodid species), with fewer studies directly investigating the roles played by pteropodids in seed dispersal (24%; 41 pteropodid species), pollination (14%; 19 pteropodid species), and conflict with fruit growers (12%; 11 pteropodid species). Pteropodids were recorded feeding on 1072 plant species from 493 genera and 148 families, with fruits comprising the majority of plant parts consumed, followed by flowers/nectar/pollen, leaves, and other miscellaneous parts. Sixteen pteropodid species have been confirmed to act as pollinators for a total of 21 plant species, and 29 pteropodid species have been confirmed to act as seed dispersers for a total of 311 plant species. Anthropogenic threats disrupting bat-plant interactions in the Old World include hunting, direct persecution, habitat loss/disturbance, invasive species, and climate change, leading to ecosystem-level repercussions. We identify notable research gaps and important research priorities to support conservation action for pteropodids.

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“…The ecology of most Pteropus species is relatively poorly known, although some taxa have evidently adapted to anthropogenic environments. For instance, some species populations mainly forage in human-shaped landscapes [ 39 ] and include cultivated or exotic plant species in their diet [ 40 , 41 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of foraging activity and fidelity in a southeast Asian flying fox

et al. 2020

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Background Improved understanding of the foraging ecology of bats in the face of ongoing habitat loss and modification worldwide is essential to their conservation and maintaining the substantial ecosystem services they provide. It is also fundamental to assessing potential transmission risks of zoonotic pathogens in human-wildlife interfaces. We evaluated the influence of environmental and behavioral variables on the foraging patterns of Pteropus lylei (a reservoir of Nipah virus) in a heterogeneous landscape in Cambodia. Methods We employed an approach based on animal-movement modeling, which comprised a path-segmentation method (hidden Markov model) to identify individual foraging-behavior sequences in GPS data generated by eight P. lylei. We characterized foraging localities, foraging activity, and probability of returning to a given foraging locality over consecutive nights. Generalized linear mixed models were also applied to assess the influence of several variables including proxies for energetic costs and quality of foraging areas. Results Bats performed few foraging bouts (area-restricted searches) during a given night, mainly in residential areas, and the duration of these decreased during the night. The probability of a bat revisiting a given foraging area within 48 h varied according to the duration previously spent there, its distance to the roost site, and the corresponding habitat type. We interpret these fine-scale patterns in relation to global habitat quality (including food-resource quality and predictability), habitat-familiarity and experience of each individual. Conclusions Our study provides evidence that heterogeneous human-made environments may promote complex patterns of foraging-behavior and short-term re-visitation in fruit bat species that occur in such landscapes. This highlights the need for similarly detailed studies to understand the processes that maintain biodiversity in these environments and assess the potential for pathogen transmission in human-wildlife interfaces.

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Dietary Plasticity in the Ryukyu Flying Fox on a Subtropical Island at the Northern Range Limit ofPteropus

Cited by 5 publications

References 41 publications

Foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes and relationships with fig abundance in East-Asian subtropical island forests

Foraging dispersion of Ryukyu flying-foxes and relationships with fig abundance in East-Asian subtropical island forests

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

Patterns of foraging activity and fidelity in a southeast Asian flying fox

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