Geophagie tropischer Fledermäuse
Final Report Abstract
Based on field work, we were able to show that mineral licks are of central importance for pregnant and lactating frugivorous bats of Western Amazonia. Our new findings support a dual function of mineral lick visitation by frugivorous bats. On the one hand, bats supplemented their mineral-depleted diet with nutrients from mineral licks. On the other hand, we detected soil tracers in faecal samples collected from bats at mineral licks, supporting the notion that bats also ingested soil when visiting mineral licks. In a follow-up study, we confirmed that reconstituted mineral lick water-soil suspensions bind two harmful substances that bats frequently encounter in their fruit diet, namely solanin and anacardic acid. Therefore, we concluded that bats may benefit also from the detoxifying qualities of soil-enriched waters. Overall, we concluded that intact mineral licks are pivotal for the reproduction of frugivorous bats in providing additional nutrients, mostly sodium, and in buffering secondary plant compounds that might prove harmful for fetal growth. With these findings in mind, we asked how changes in human land use alter the quality of mineral licks for fruit-eating bats. We found that poaching of large mammals, such as peccaries and tapirs, promotes the deterioration of mineral licks. We observed fewer frugivorous bats at deteriorated mineral licks than at intact mineral licks. Since mineral lick visitation seems to be directly linked to reproduction in frugivorous bats, a reduced quality of mineral licks may affect bat populations, putting their ecosystem services as seed dispersers at risk. To highlight the fundamental importance of ecosystem services provided by bats, we reviewed this key ecological function of bats in natural ecosystems. Also, we contributed to a review paper in which we demonstrate the importance of the Yasuni area as one of the global hotspots.
Publications
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2010. Global Conservation Significance of Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park. PLoS ONE 5(1): e8767
Bass, M., Finer, M., Jenkins, C.N., Kreft, H., Cisneros-Heredia, D.F., McCracken, S.F., Pitman, N.C.A., English, P.A., Swing, K., Villa, G., DiFiore, A., Voigt, C.C., Kunz, T.H.
