Trophic Niche and Diet of Natalus Mexicanus (Chiroptera: Natalidae) in a Tropical Dry Forest of Western Mexico

Torres-Flores, José Williams; López‐Wilchis, Ricardo

doi:10.3161/15081109acc2018.20.2.006

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…One group contained the species M. megalophylla, M. elegans, M. pilosatibialis, and N. mexicanus. This grouping is supported by the high number of observations of Lepidoptera, consistent with previous reports of moths and beetles in the fecal material of these animals (Table 1; Rolfe et al, 2014;Torres-Flores & López-Wilchis, 2019;Whitaker & Findley, 1980 (Oelbaum et al, 2019), and a previous study of the diet of G. keenani has also reported large beetle fragments, further supporting this module (Whitaker & Findley, 1980). Likewise, beetles have been demonstrated to be important parts of the diets of various Pteronotus species (Rolfe et al, 2014;Salinas-Ramos et al, 2015), although it has been reported that P. mesoamericanus in Costa Rica feeds mostly on Lepidoptera and Diptera (de Oliveira et al, 2020).…”

Section: Within-species Variationsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Molecular diet analysis of neotropical bats based on fecal DNA metabarcoding

Ingala

Simmons

Wultsch

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Bat communities in the Neotropics are some of the most speciose assemblages of mammals on Earth, with regions supporting more than 100 sympatric species with diverse feeding ecologies. Because bats are small, nocturnal, and volant, it is difficult to directly observe their feeding habits, which has resulted in their classification into broadly defined dietary guilds (e.g., insectivores, carnivores, and frugivores). Apart from these broad guilds, we lack detailed dietary information for many species and therefore have only a limited understanding of interaction networks linking bats and their diet items. In this study, we used DNA metabarcoding of plants, arthropods, and vertebrates to investigate the diets of 25 bat species from the tropical dry forests of Lamanai, Belize. Our results report some of the first detection of diet items for the focal bat taxa, adding rich and novel natural history information to the field of bat ecology. This study represents a comprehensive first effort to apply DNA metabarcoding to bat diets at Lamanai and provides a useful methodological framework for future studies testing hypotheses about coexistence and niche differentiation in the context of modern high‐throughput molecular data.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Within-species Variationsupporting

confidence: 91%

Molecular diet analysis of neotropical bats based on fecal DNA metabarcoding

Ingala

Simmons

Wultsch

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Caves take relevance in dry forests characterized by extreme climatic conditions because these roosts offer protection against temperature fluctuations and predators and support reproduction, breeding, and other social behaviors (Kunz, 1982). Similarly, other studies show that mormoopids have a strong dependence on caves in Neotropical dry forests or semi-arid ecosystems, where they form large colonies (Bonaccorso et al, 1992;Rodríguez-Durán, 2009;Torres-Flores and López-Wilchis, 2018;Otálora-Ardila et al, 2020), which may reach >10,000 individuals, as registered in our study. Although ca.…”

Section: Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidaesupporting

confidence: 85%

Bat functional traits associated with environmental, landscape, and conservation variables in Neotropical dry forests

Díaz-B,

Otálora-Ardila,

Valdés-Cardona

et al. 2023

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. Bats' role in those ecosystems is critical because of multiple bat-mediated processes. Such processes are strongly related to bats' functional traits. However, it is poorly known which bat's functional traits could relate to variations in environmental conditions in tropical dry forests. In this study, we tested the hypotheses that bat functional traits would be significantly associated with landscape variables, climatic variables, and land-use intensity. For testing these hypotheses, we used data from phyllostomid and mormoopid bats captured in mist nets and data from non-phyllostomid insectivorous bat species registered by passive acoustic monitoring. We considered six functional traits for phyllostomid and mormoopid bats, and for non-phyllostomid insectivorous bats, we added two echolocation parameters. We measured five environmental variables, two of local climate (daily maximum temperature and wind speed) and three of landscape features (total area of water and closeness, probability of finding caves, and conservation status). The relationships between bat functional traits and environmental variables were evaluated using the RLQ and the fourth-corner analysis. We captured 360 individuals belonging to 14 species with mist nets (Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidae), and we identified 18 species and six sonotypes with acoustic sampling (Emballonuridae, Mormoopidae, Molossidae, Natalidae, Noctilionidae, and Vespertilionidae). We found that bats' functional traits related to environmental conditions were pulse structure, diet, vertical foraging stratification, and trophic level, although these relationships varied among bats' ecological roles. The hematophagous were related to water bodies' closeness, and animalivorous bats, mostly mormoopids, showed a relationship with the probability of finding caves. Insectivorous bats that mostly forage on the canopy and emit qCF calls were significantly related to more conserved sites, and bats that emit qCF pulses were significantly associated with less area covered by water. Our findings provide insights into how bat functional traits vary in their relationships with environmental conditions in harsh environments such as dry forests.

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“…As top nocturnal predators of insects, bats use a variety of foraging strategies [2,3] that are dependent on the kind of prey they hunt and the habitat in which bats forage. For example, species such as Miniopterus natalensis species are obligate aerial hawkers that catch prey in flight [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faecal analyses and alimentary tracers reveal the foraging ecology of two sympatric bats

Moyo

Jacobs

2020

PLoS ONE

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We used three complementary methods to assess the diet of two insectivorous bat species: one an obligate aerial hunter, Miniopterus natalensis, and the other Myotis tricolor whose morphology and taxonomic affiliation to other trawling bats suggests it may be a trawler (capturing insects from the water surface with its feet and tail). We used visual inspection, stable isotope values and fatty acid profiles of insect fragments in bat faeces sampled across five sites to determine the contribution of aquatic and terrestrial arthropods to the diets of the two species. The niche widths of M. tricolor were generally wider than those of Miniopterus natalensis but with much overlap, both taking aquatic and terrestrial insects, albeit in different proportions. The diet of M. tricolor had high proportions of fatty acids (20:5ω3 and 22:6ω3) that are only obtainable from aquatic insects. Furthermore, the diet of M. tricolor had higher proportions of water striders (Gerridae) and whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae), insects obtainable via trawling, than Miniopterus natalensis. These results suggest both species are flexible in their consumption of prey but that M. tricolor may use both aerial hawking and trawling, or at least gleaning, to take insects from water surfaces. The resultant spatial segregation may sufficiently differentiate the niches of the two species, allowing them to co-exist. Furthermore, our results emphasize that using a combination of methods to analyse diets of cryptic animals yields greater insights into animal foraging ecology than any of them on their own. OPEN ACCESSCitation: Moyo S, Jacobs DS (2020) Faecal analyses and alimentary tracers reveal the foraging ecology of two sympatric bats. PLoS ONE 15(1): e0227743. https://doi.org/10.

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Trophic Niche and Diet of Natalus Mexicanus (Chiroptera: Natalidae) in a Tropical Dry Forest of Western Mexico

Cited by 5 publications

References 37 publications

Molecular diet analysis of neotropical bats based on fecal DNA metabarcoding

Molecular diet analysis of neotropical bats based on fecal DNA metabarcoding

Bat functional traits associated with environmental, landscape, and conservation variables in Neotropical dry forests

Faecal analyses and alimentary tracers reveal the foraging ecology of two sympatric bats

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