Abstract

ANTELIZ-PALLARES, Isabel; SANCHEZ, Angie Tatiana  and  SANCHEZ-LONDONO, Juan David. Diet of frugivore bats and its effect on the germination of two species in the Área Natural Única Los Estoraques, Norte de Santander, Colombia. Caldasia [online]. 2021, vol.43, n.2, pp.310-319.  Epub Apr 08, 2022. ISSN 0366-5232.  https://doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v43n2.85460.

The study of bat diets is important to understand how their assemblage is shaped and how they can contribute to the dynamics of the forests. Since there are few studies on the diet of fruit bats in the tropical dry forest, our objective was to describe their diet and to understand their effect on seed germination. The work was carried out in the Área Natural Única Los Estoraques, Norte de Santander, Colombia, corresponding to a premontane dry forest life zone (bs-PM). Mist nets were used to capture bats; their excreta were also collected. The seeds of Vismia baccifera and Piper sp4, obtained from the excreta, were selected for the germination experiment whose response was analyzed by means of the germination capacity index. An accumulation curve was made for the seeds richness, the best disperser index DII and the Morisita index were calculated to study diet overlap. Ten species of fruit bats were recorded from which seven are new local records for a total of 18 species in the area, thirteen of these were frugivorous species. Carollia brevicauda was the most abundant and the best disperser species, considering it key for the dispersal of most plant species. A total of 18 seed morphospecies were identified, including Calycolpus moritzianus, being a new record for the diet of bats. We did not find differences in the germination of seeds of the two plant species obtained from either the excreta of from the fruit directly.

Keywords : Tropical dry forest; Chiroptera; frugivorous diet; seed dispersal.

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