Roosting Ecology of Amazonian Bats: Evidence for Guild Structure in Hyperdiverse Mammalian Communities

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ecological mechanisms that sustain high species richness in Neotropical bat communities have attracted research attention for several decades. Although many ecologists have studied the feeding behavior and diets of Neotropical bats on the assumption that food is a limiting resource, other resource axes that might be important for species coexistence are often ignored. Diurnal refugia, in particular, are a crucial resource for bats, many of which exhibit conspicuous morphological or behavioral adaptations to the roost environment. Here we report and analyze information about roost occupancy based on >500 field observations of Amazonian bats. Statistical analyses of these data suggest the existence of distinct groups of species roosting (1) in foliage, (2) exposed on the trunks of standing trees, (3) in cavities in standing trees, (4) in or under fallen trees, (5) beneath undercut earth banks, and (6) in arboreal insect nests; additionally, we recognize other groups that roost (7) in animal bur...