Body size as an important factor determining trophic niche partitioning in three syntopic rhinolophid bat species

Andreas, Michal; Reiter, Antonín; Cepáková, Eva; Uhrin, Marcel

doi:10.2478/s11756-012-0139-1

Cited by 27 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…; Andreas et al . ); however, the bats may be partitioning prey at a lower taxonomic level. Lepidoptera dominate the diets of almost all Rhinolophus species studied to date (e.g., Goiti et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Island bat diets: does it matter more who you are or where you live?

2014

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Differences in body size, echolocation call frequency and location may result in diet partitioning among bat species. Comparisons between island populations are one way to evaluate these competing hypotheses. We conducted a species-level diet analysis of three Rhinolophus and one Hipposideros species on the Philippine islands of Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor. We identified 655 prey (MOTUs) in the guano from 77 individual bats. There was a high degree of overlap among species' diets despite differences in body size and call frequency. For example, the diet of the 3 g-Hipposideros pygmaeus (mean CF = 102 kHz) exhibited a diet overlap higher than expected by chance with all three Rhinolophus species, even the 13 g-Rhinolophus inops (mean CF = 54 kHz). We observed more convergence in diet between Rhinolophus species and H. pygmaeus than between Rhinolophus species themselves, which may be explained by the broad diet of H. pygmaeus. There was less dietary overlap between Rhinolophus virgo from two islands than between R. virgo and congeners from Cebu. These data suggest that location causes convergence in diet, but specific species characteristics may drive niche specialization. The complex interplay between location and the perceptual ability of each species leads to a situation where simple explanations, for example body size, do not translate into predictable prey partitioning. In particular, our observations raise interesting questions about the foraging strategy and adaptability of the tiny H. pygmaeus.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Island bat diets: does it matter more who you are or where you live?

2014

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“…High niche overlap in insect prey composition but low niche overlap in insect prey size One likely axis of niche partitioning between the two Sitta species may be food resources, as this axis has been suggested to be the most important axis for coexistence in many cases (e.g. Grant, 1999;Sebastiano et al, 2012), and difference in prey size is an important factor in trophic niche partitioning in closely related sympatric species (Freeman & Lemen, 2007;Andreas et al, 2013). We found that the trophic niche breadth of S. neumayer was wider than that for S. tephronata and that the two nuthatch species do overlap strongly in prey composition, which would suggest that they do not partition resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We identified plants and insects through a stereomicroscope (Magnification 6.3-400) using morphological identification keys (Bey-Bienko, 1954, 1964, 1967Harza, 1975;Triplehorn & Johnson 2005). We calculated the following summary statistics for the gut contents: (1) percent frequency for each taxon (%f), where a particular prey category was expressed as the number of occurrences of the category, divided by total occurrences for all categories, multiplied by 100; (2) percent occurrence (%oc), defined as the number of occurrences of the particular prey category, divided by the total gastrointestinal tract samples, times 100; and (3) percent volume (%vol), where percent volume of a particular prey category was expressed as the volume of that prey category divided by the total volume of all prey, times 100 (following Andreas et al, 2013). To that end, excess preservation fluid was initially removed with absorbent paper and then all the gut material belonging to a focal order was poured in a 10-mL cylindrical tube (graduated cylinder).…”

Section: Analyses Of Gastrointestinal Tract Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Percent frequency (%f) indicates the relative importance of the particular prey categories according to the frequencies in which they were consumed; percent occurrence (%oc) indicates the relative importance of the particular categories among the total gastrointestinal tract; percent volume (%vol) describes the proportion of the volume represented by each particular prey category in the set of gastrointestinal tract samples analyzed (Andreas, et al, 2013).…”

Section: Analyses Of Gastrointestinal Tract Contentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trophic niche partitioning between two Rock Nuthatches (Sitta tephronota&Sitta neumayer) in a contact zone in Iran

et al. 2016

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Two sympatric nuthatch species, Sitta tephronota and S. neumayer, provided the exemplar case of character displacement when the term was coined. The two species are quite similar morphologically but have diverged from one another in sympatry, presumably because of competition-driven selection favoring the partitioning of food resources. However, actual diet partitioning has never been shown. Here, we report the dietary composition of the two species by analyzing items recovered from the gastrointestinal tract. We found that S. tephronata fed predominantly on Coleopterans, Hemipterans and Orthopterans with the most important seed plants taken being Amygdalus lycioides, Ficus carica and Fabaceae, whereas, S. neumayer fed mainly on Coleopterans, Hemipterans and Lepidopteran, with A. lycioides, Fabaceae and Tritium aestivum as the most important plants taken. To determine whether the two species partition prey into different sizes, we examined two mostly abundant insect preys (Hemipterans and Coleopterans) and measured head length for Hemipterans and mandible size for Coleopterans as proxies for prey body size. We found a significant relationship between bird body size and prey size, as S. tephronata, which is larger, captured larger bugs and beetles. We also measured the ability of each species to crack seeds of different hardness, finding that S. tephronata takes larger and harder seeds than S. neumayer. Analyses of trophic niche breadth and overlap showed (1) that trophic niche breadth for S. neumayer was wider than that for S. tephronata; (2) overall trophic niche overlap was considerably high but (3) overlap in the size of the most frequently consumed insects was low, suggesting that the species may be partitioning resources by prey size. We conclude that the relative body size of consumed prey is an important axis of niche partitioning and may have driven character displacement in associated trophic traits, allowing the stable coexistence of the two species.

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“…We expected that all of the length and area measurements of the wing, body and tail of M. blythii would present significantly lower values compared with M. myotis. In other words, we expected to find that the main difference between these species is due to their different sizes and that the two species are simply scaled versions of the same model (Norberg and Rayner 1987;Stockwell 2001;Andreas et al 2013). Then, in a second step we sought to ascertainwhether the differences in the ecology of the two species could be attributed to morphological adaptations, followed by differences in flight performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tail plays a major role in the differing manoeuvrability of two sibling species of mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis and Myotis blythii)

2014

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Two sympatrically occurring bat species, the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis (Borkhausen, 1797)) and the lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii (Tomes, 1857)) (Chiroptera, Vespertillionidae), share numerous similarities in morphology, roosting behaviour, and echolocation and are often difficult to distinguish. However, despite these similarities, their foraging behaviour is noticeably different. Our aim was to examine the extent to which these different foraging strategies reflect morphological adaptation. We assessed whether the morphology of the wing, body, and tail differed between M. myotis and M. blythii. In addition, in a laboratory experiment involving an obstacle course, we compared differences in manoeuvrability by relating them to our morphological measurements. The two species differed in their overall size, wing-tip shape, and tail-to-body length ratio. The generally smaller sized M. blythii performed better in the obstacle course and was therefore considered to be more manoeuvrable. Although differences in wing-tip shape were observed, we found the most important characteristic affecting manoeuvrability in both species to be the tail-to-body length ratio. Additionally, when we compared two bats with injured wing membranes with unharmed bats of the same species, we found no difference in manoeuvrability, even when the wing shape was asymmetric. We therefore postulate that morphometric differences between the two species in their overall size and, more importantly, in their tail-to-body length ratio are the main physical characteristics providing proof of adaptation to different foraging and feeding strategies.

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Body size as an important factor determining trophic niche partitioning in three syntopic rhinolophid bat species

Cited by 27 publications

References 31 publications

Island bat diets: does it matter more who you are or where you live?

Island bat diets: does it matter more who you are or where you live?

Trophic niche partitioning between two Rock Nuthatches (Sitta tephronota&Sitta neumayer) in a contact zone in Iran

The tail plays a major role in the differing manoeuvrability of two sibling species of mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis and Myotis blythii)

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