Abstract
Recent advances in the study of pollination networks have improved our ability to describe species interactions at the community level. In this study, we compared the abundance and network strength of facultative and obligate nectar-feeding bats to determine their roles in pollinating mixed fruit orchards. We were particularly interested in the effect of distance from forests and caves on the foraging activity of these two bat groups. For this study, we examined 10 pairs of orchards; each pair consisted of one orchard near to (< 1 km) and one orchard far from (> 7 km) the forest edge. We estimated the abundance of each bat group (nectarivorous vs. frugi-nectarivorous) using video observations to determine floral visitation rates. A pollination network was then created for each of the 20 study orchards and network strength was calculated for each bat group at each orchard. We found that nectarivorous bats showed higher abundance and network strength than frugi-nectarivorous bats. Both bat abundance and network strength were negatively correlated with distance to the nearest cave, however, only network strength was affected by distance to the forest. These results corroborate the importance of nectarivorous bats in pollinating crops within southern Thailand’s mixed fruit orchards. Higher network strength of bats near forests and caves emphasizes the role of natural habitats as pollinator sources.
Highlights
We aim to investigate the role of nectarivorous and frugi-nectarivorous bat species in southern Thailand’s mixed fruit orchards by addressing these questions: 1) Do nectarivorous and frugi-nectarivorous bats have similar pollination roles? 2) Does the distance to forest patches and caves affect the abundance and/or network strength of either bat group
Through the use of pollination networks, we demonstrate that nectar and frugi-nectarivorous bats differ in their impact on bat-pollinated plant species within southern Thailand’s mixed fruit orchards
These two groups are differentially affected by distance to caves and forests. Both bat groups are strongly integrated into pollination networks, playing important roles in the networks where they occur
Summary
Bat pollination is not as common as insect or bird pollination, approximately 250 genera of plants depend on bat pollinators (Sekercioglu 2006; Fleming et al 2009). A recent study by Stewart et al (2014) classified paleotropical, phytophagous bats into two feeding guilds, specialized nectarivores (which are obligate nectar feeders) and fruginectarivores (which visit flowers opportunistically). Since specialized nectarivores are dependent solely on floral resources, they may be more consistent visitors than fruginectarivores, and may provide greater pollination services. In Neotropical studies, nectar specialist and opportunistic bat species differ in their contributions toward plant reproductive success (Frick et al 2013). Knowledge about how these two bat groups contribute to plant-pollinator networks within an entire plant community is lacking
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
