Abstract
Human-modified habitats are expanding rapidly; many tropical countries have highly fragmented and degraded forests. Preserving biodiversity in these areas involves protecting species–like frugivorous bats–that are important to forest regeneration. Fruit bats provide critical ecosystem services including seed dispersal, but studies of how their diets are affected by habitat change have often been rather localized. This study used stable isotope analyses (δ15N and δ13C measurement) to examine how two fruit bat species in Madagascar, Pteropus rufus (n = 138) and Eidolon dupreanum (n = 52) are impacted by habitat change across a large spatial scale. Limited data for Rousettus madagascariensis are also presented. Our results indicated that the three species had broadly overlapping diets. Differences in diet were nonetheless detectable between P. rufus and E. dupreanum, and these diets shifted when they co-occurred, suggesting resource partitioning across habitats and vertical strata within the canopy to avoid competition. Changes in diet were correlated with a decrease in forest cover, though at a larger spatial scale in P. rufus than in E. dupreanum. These results suggest fruit bat species exhibit differing responses to habitat change, highlight the threats fruit bats face from habitat change, and clarify the spatial scales at which conservation efforts could be implemented.
Highlights
Anthropogenic changes to tropical forests have been extensive
Prioritized some bat species over others. Such bias is considered minimal for this study since hunters have an economic incentive to capture bats where they are most abundant, because hunters often use indiscriminate hunting techniques such as large nets that capture any species present [42], and because our study focused on the regional scale and hunter preferences for particular types of hunting grounds or species may not be consistent across large spatial scales
In accordance with our hypothesis, the diet breadth of P. rufus was larger than the diet breadths of E. dupreanum and R. madagascariensis (p = 0.027)
Summary
Anthropogenic changes to tropical forests have been extensive. More than 350 million hectares have been removed globally [1,2], changing the availability of food resources, and modifying foraging behavior in mammals [3]. Modifications of the foraging behavior in response to anthropogenic habitat change can have important ecological consequences in and near tropical forests. Because of the key roles of fruit bats as pollinators and seed dispersers of tropical trees [4], and because some fruit bat species can use degraded forests. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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