Digestive capacity predicts diet diversity in Neotropical frugivorous bats

• Published in: The Journal of animal ecology Vol. 84; no. 5; pp. 1396 - 1404
• Main Authors: Saldaña‐Vázquez, Romeo A, Ruiz‐Sanchez, Eduardo, Herrera‐Alsina, Leonel, Schondube, Jorge E, Hughes, Alice
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Scientific Publ 01-09-2015; John Wiley & Sons Ltd; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Animals; Bats; Biodiversity; Central America; Chiroptera; Chiroptera - physiology; Diet; Digestion; digestive physiology; digestive tract; Ecology; ecosystem services; flight; food quality; forest regeneration; frugivores; Fruit; functional diversity; intake response; Mexico; niche; null models; pest control; Phyllostomidae; Phylogeny; Physiological ecology; pollination; Predation; prediction; seed dispersal; seeds; South America; Tropical Climate; tropical forests; tropics; vertebrates; South America; Central America; Mexico; intake response; niche; Phyllostomidae; null models; food quality
• ISSN: 0021-8790; 1365-2656
• DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12383

Predicting the diet diversity of animals is important to basic and applied ecology. Knowledge of diet diversity in animals helps us understand niche partitioning, functional diversity and ecosystem services such as pollination, pest control and seed dispersal. There is a negative relationship between the length of the digestive tract and diet diversity in animals; however, the role of digestive physiology in determining diet diversity has been ignored. This is especially important in vertebrates with powered flight because, unlike non‐flying vertebrates, they have limitations that may constrain gut size. Here, we evaluate the relationship between digestive capacity and diet diversity in Carollinae and Stenodermatinae frugivorous bats. These bats disperse the seeds of plants that are key to Neotropical forest regeneration. Our results show that digestive capacity is a good predictor of diet diversity in Carollinae and Stenodermatinae frugivorous bats (R² = 0·77). Surprisingly, the most phylogenetically closely related species were not similar in their digestive capacity or diet diversity. The lack of a phylogenetic signal for the traits evaluated implies differences in digestive physiology and diet in closely related species. Our results highlight the predictive usefulness of digestive physiology for understanding the feeding ecology of animals.