Abstract
The Queensland blossom bat (Syconycteris australis) is a specialist nectar and pollen feeder. Its dietary maintenance nitrogen requirement (MNR), determined by feeding blossom bats varying levels of pollen in an artificial sugar solution, was 337 mg N · $kg^{-0.75}$ · $d^{-1}$. This is similar to nitrogen requirements predicted from the standard metabolic rate of blossom bats. Dry-matter digestibility (79%-89%) and partial apparent nitrogen digestibility (58%-97%) was high for the sugar/pollen diet. Dry-matter intake was not correlated with dietary nitrogen as previously predicted for pteropodids. Although pollen is a rich source of dietary nitrogen, it is a highly dispersed food source. On the basis of nitrogen content of Banksia pollen and mean pollen standing crops (27 ± 2 pollen bundles per inflorescence, N = 128) I predict that many Banksia inflorescences (36-48) need to be visited each night to satisfy the MNR of an 18-g blossom bat. Even more Banksia inflorescences (28-62) must be visited nightly t...
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