Bat-Fruit Interactions Are More Specialized in Shaded-Coffee Plantations than in Tropical Mountain Cloud Forest Fragments

Abstract

Forest disturbance causes specialization of plant-frugivore networks and jeopardizes mutualistic interactions through reduction of ecological redundancy. To evaluate how simplification of a forest into an agroecosystem affects plant-disperser mutualistic interactions, we compared bat-fruit interaction indexes of specialization in tropical montane cloud forest fragments (TMCF) and shaded-coffee plantations (SCP). Bat-fruit interactions were surveyed by collection of bat fecal samples. Bat-fruit interactions were more specialized in SCP (mean H2 ' = 0.55) compared to TMCF fragments (mean H2 ' = 0.27), and were negatively correlated to bat abundance in SCP (R = -0.35). The number of shared plant species was higher in the TMCF fragments (mean = 1) compared to the SCP (mean = 0.51) and this was positively correlated to the abundance of frugivorous bats (R= 0.79). The higher specialization in SCP could be explained by lower bat abundance and lower diet overlap among bats. Coffee farmers and conservation policy makers must increase the proportion of land assigned to TMCF within agroecosystem landscapes in order to conserve frugivorous bats and their invaluable seed dispersal service.

Does seed ingestion by bats enhance germination? A new meta‐analysis 15 years later

“…Sturnira and Carollia species produced similar seed germination probability in Piper species. Dietary studies on Sturnira in montane forests have shown that Sturnira consume Piper fruits in the same magnitude as their supposedly preferred Solanum fruits (Hernández-Montero et al 2015, Castaño et al 2018. These results suggest that in montane forests where Carollia species abundance decreases, Sturnira species provide compensatory seed dispersal services to Piper plants.…”

“…Dietary studies on Sturnira in montane forests have shown that Sturnira consume Piper fruits in the same magnitude as their supposedly preferred Solanum fruits (Hernández‐Montero et al. , Castaño et al. ).…”

Dispersal of Hoffmannia excelsa (Rubiaceae) by the Toltec fruit-eating bat (Artibeus toltecus) in central Veracruz, México

“…It is distributed from the north of México to the northwest of Ecuador and west of Colombia, in South America and lives mainly in wooded areas, in an altitudinal range that goes from 300 to 2,130 m (Webster and Jones 1982). This species is locally common in central Veracruz, México (Castro-Luna and Galindo-González 2012), and it is known that in Mesoamerica it feeds mainly of the Moraceae and Solanaceae families (Hernández-Conrique et al 1997;García-Estrada et al 2012;Hernández-Montero et al 2015), although along its distribution range consumes fruits from plants of 13 taxonomic families: Actinidiaceae, Campanulaceae, Cannabaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Gesneriaceae, Hypericaceae, Lamiaceae, Melastomataceae, Muntingiaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae, Rosaceae and Urticaceae (Lobova et al 2009;Hernández-Montero et al 2015;Castaño et al 2018).…”

“…Phyllostomid frugivorous bats have developed remarkable plasticity in their use of food resources, but a few plant families make up the core of their diet throughout the year (Hernández-Montero et al 2015;Sánchez and Giannini 2018). However, rare situations such as the supplementary consumption of insects during critical stages of nutrient demand (Orr et al 2016), or the ingestion of pollen, leaves or fruits with ornitochorous characteristics (e.g., red or purple color), may also occur (Galleti and Morellato 1994;Castro-Luna and Sosa 2009).…”

“…It is interesting that although H. excelsa is a common shrub in the understory of the mountain cloud forest and riparian vegetation of the region (Hernández-Dávila et al 2020), it does not seem to be frequently consumed by bats. We assume this, considering that there are no previous records of this interaction in the region (e.g., Hernández-Montero et al 2015;Colorado-Durán 2020). Some authors have mentioned that the consumption of some plant species occurs due to the large number of fruits available in the landscape (Zortéa 2007;Novaes et al 2010), although it has also been reported the unusual consumption of plant spe-…”