Differences in foraging times between two feeding guilds within Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae) in southern Thailand

Stewart, Alyssa B.; Makowsky, Robert; Dudash, Michele R.

doi:10.1017/s0266467414000042

Cited by 17 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Bumrungsri et al (2009) found durian trees to be highly self-incompatible. Pollen limitation was found in previous studies, and the main visitors are nectarivorous bats (Eonycteris spelaea) and the giant honey bee (Apis dorsata) (Bumrungsri et al 2009, Stewart et al 2014. TUANJIT SRITONGCHUAY, CLAIRE KREMEN AND SARA BUMRUNGSRI Mangifera indica L. (mango, Anacardiaceae) plants in our study area were primarily of the Bao variety, which shows two flowering peaks (February and September).…”

Section: Study Speciessupporting

confidence: 62%

Effects of forest and cave proximity on fruit set of tree crops in tropical orchards in Southern Thailand

2016

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Abstract:Deforestation and forest fragmentation are contributing to declines in crop pollinator populations worldwide. Several studies have examined the impact of forest proximity on plant pollination ecology, but concentrated on single crop species. However, it can be more informative to investigate multiple crop and pollinator species in a community, because different pollinator groups may respond differently to forest distance. We evaluated flower visitor diversity, visitation frequency, and fruit set for three crop species (rambutan, durian and mango) in 10 pairs of mixed fruit orchards. Each pair consisted of one orchard near to (< 1 km) and one orchard far from (> 7 km) the forest edge. Rambutan fruit set was significantly influenced by distance to forest. The main visitors of rambutan flowers were stingless bees. In contrast, the dominant visitors to durian and mango flowers were nectarivorous bats and flies, respectively, and the fruit set of these crops were not significantly influenced by distance to forest. However, durian fruit set was negatively affected by distance to the nearest cave inhabited by nectarivorous bats. This study demonstrates that both caves and forests can be important pollinator sources for agricultural crops, and that the dispersal success of pollinators is related to isolation from source habitats. Maintaining forest patches and limestone karsts may provide stepping stones across fragmented landscapes, and attract greater numbers of pollinators to agricultural areas.

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Section: Study Speciessupporting

confidence: 62%

Effects of forest and cave proximity on fruit set of tree crops in tropical orchards in Southern Thailand

2016

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“…This study focused on plant species that are universally found throughout southern Thailand's mixed agriculture-forest landscape, and that are common in the diets of nectarivorous bats: Ceiba pentandra, Durio zibethinus, Musa acuminata, Oroxylum indicum, Parkia speciosa and P. timoriana (Start and Marshall, 1976;Bumrungsri et al, 2013;Stewart et al, 2014). These plant species bloom at night and are known to rely on bats for pollination (Start and Marshall, 1976;Bumrungsri et al, 2008Bumrungsri et al, , 2009Srithongchuay et al, 2008Srithongchuay et al, , 2016Acharya et al, 2015;Stewart and Dudash, 2016b).…”

Section: Plant Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We primarily focused on Eonycteris spelaea, as it is the most common nectarivorous bat species in southern Thailand (Stewart et al, 2014), and because it consistently forages on all of our focal plant study species (Bumrungsri et al, 2013;Stewart et al, 2014). This bat species is relatively large (53-59 g; Stewart and Dudash, 2016b), has a broad diet and is an important pollinator of many night-blooming plant species (Start and Marshall, 1976;Bumrungsri et al, 2008Bumrungsri et al, , 2009Srithongchuay et al, 2008Srithongchuay et al, , 2016Acharya et al, 2015;Stewart and Dudash, 2016b).…”

Section: Bat Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focused on five plant taxa that are very common in the diets of nectar-feeding bats (Start and Marshall, 1976;Bumrungsri et al, 2013;Stewart et al, 2014) and therefore may experience interspecific pollen transfer. Four of these plant taxa were used in our previous experiment (Ceiba pentandra, Durio zibethinus, Musa acuminata, Parkia spp.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Field evidence of strong differential pollen placement by Old World bat-pollinated plants

Stewart

Dudash

2016

Ann Bot

Self Cite

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Background and Aims Sympatric plant species that share pollinators potentially compete for pollination and risk interspecific pollen transfer, but this competition can be minimized when plant species place pollen on different areas of the pollinator's body. Multiple studies have demonstrated strong differential pollen placement by sympatric plant species under laboratory conditions; however, field evidence collected in natural settings is less common. Furthermore, it is unknown whether precise pollen placement on the pollinator's body remains constant throughout the foraging period, or if such patterns become diffused over time (e.g. due to grooming). To test the prevalence of differential pollen placement in the wild, we examined a community of five night-blooming plant species in southern Thailand that share common bat pollinators.Methods We mist-netted wild foraging nectar bats and collected pollen samples from four body parts: the crown of the head, face, chest and ventral side of one wing. We also noted the time of pollen collection to assess how pollinator pollen loads change throughout the foraging period.Key Results Our findings revealed that most of our plant study species placed pollen on precise areas of the bat, consistent with experimental work, and that patterns of differential pollen placement remained constant throughout the night.Conclusions This study demonstrates how diverse floral morphologies effectively limit interspecific pollen transfer among Old World bat-pollinated plants under natural conditions. Additionally, interspecific pollen transfer is probably minimal throughout the entire foraging period, since patterns of pollen on the bats' bodies were consistent over time.

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“…Indeed, apart from a few studies in the Philippines (Reiter & Curio, 2001; Mildenstein et al, 2005; Stier & Mildenstein, 2005), Thailand (Weber et al, 2015), and Myanmar (Win & Mya, 2015), all other dietary and foraging studies on Southeast Asian Pteropodidae have focused on the smaller pteropodids (e.g., Hodgkison et al, 2004; Fletcher, Zubaid & Kunz, 2012; Bumrungsri et al, 2013; Stewart, Makowsky & Dudash, 2014). This is of particular concern given that out of the 67 flying fox species listed on the IUCN Red List, almost half (30 species i.e., 45%) are found in Southeast Asia (IUCN, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elucidating the diet of the island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) in Peninsular Malaysia through Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing

Aziz

Clements

Peng

et al. 2017

PeerJ

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There is an urgent need to identify and understand the ecosystem services of pollination and seed dispersal provided by threatened mammals such as flying foxes. The first step towards this is to obtain comprehensive data on their diet. However, the volant and nocturnal nature of bats presents a particularly challenging situation, and conventional microhistological approaches to studying their diet can be laborious and time-consuming, and provide incomplete information. We used Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) as a novel, non-invasive method for analysing the diet of the island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) on Tioman Island, Peninsular Malaysia. Through DNA metabarcoding of plants in flying fox droppings, using primers targeting the rbcL gene, we identified at least 29 Operationally Taxonomic Units (OTUs) comprising the diet of this giant pteropodid. OTU sequences matched at least four genera and 14 plant families from online reference databases based on a conservative Least Common Ancestor approach, and eight species from our site-specific plant reference collection. NGS was just as successful as conventional microhistological analysis in detecting plant taxa from droppings, but also uncovered six additional plant taxa. The island flying fox’s diet appeared to be dominated by figs (Ficus sp.), which was the most abundant plant taxon detected in the droppings every single month. Our study has shown that NGS can add value to the conventional microhistological approach in identifying food plant species from flying fox droppings. At this point in time, more accurate genus- and species-level identification of OTUs not only requires support from databases with more representative sequences of relevant plant DNA, but probably necessitates in situ collection of plant specimens to create a reference collection. Although this method cannot be used to quantify true abundance or proportion of plant species, nor plant parts consumed, it ultimately provides a very important first step towards identifying plant taxa and spatio-temporal patterns in flying fox diets.

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Differences in foraging times between two feeding guilds within Old World fruit bats (Pteropodidae) in southern Thailand

Cited by 17 publications

References 46 publications

Effects of forest and cave proximity on fruit set of tree crops in tropical orchards in Southern Thailand

Effects of forest and cave proximity on fruit set of tree crops in tropical orchards in Southern Thailand

Field evidence of strong differential pollen placement by Old World bat-pollinated plants

Elucidating the diet of the island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus) in Peninsular Malaysia through Illumina Next-Generation Sequencing

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