Defensive Fruit Metabolites Obstruct Seed Dispersal by Altering Bat Behavior and Physiology at Multiple Temporal Scales

Abstract

Why do ripe fruits sometimes contain toxic chemicals? Presumably, any benefits in terms of defense against enemies outweigh costs to mutualists. In a study in Ecology, Baldwin et al. (in press) combine approaches from chemical and movement ecology from a Neotropical seed dispersal system (bats in the genus Carollia disperse seeds of plants in the genus Piper) to discover a novel mechanism by which plant defenses may incur costs: well-defended fruits can suffer from reduced dispersal distances by decreasing seed retention time in bat guts as well forgoing dispersal at the time of night at which bats travel furthest. This photograph illustrates the article “Defensive fruit metabolites obstruct seed dispersal by altering bat behavior and physiology at multiple temporal scales” by Justin W. Baldwin, Dina K. N. Dechmann, Wibke Thies and Susan R. Whitehead published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2937