The Role of Morphology in Diet and Flower Visitation by Five Species of Cuban Flower-Visiting Bats
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 11-5-2013 12:00 AM The Role of Morphology in Diet and Flower Visitation by Five Species of Cuban Flower-Visiting Bats Lindsey Clairmont The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Brock Fenton The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Biology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Science © Lindsey Clairmont 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons Recommended Citation Clairmont, Lindsey, "The Role of Morphology in Diet and Flower Visitation by Five Species of Cuban Flower-Visiting Bats" (2013). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1704. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1704 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ROLE OF MORPHOLOGY IN DIET AND FLOWER VISITATION BY FIVE SPECIES OF CUBAN FLOWER-VISITING BATS (Thesis format: Monograph) by Lindsey Clairmont Graduate Program in Biology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Lindsey Clairmont 2013 Abstract Pollinator and flower morphology are important factors in structuring the plant-pollinator relationship. A pollinator’s morphology may influence aspects of its diet. Flower-visiting bats are important pollinators but very little is known about what influences their interactions with food plants. I examined the role of morphology in the partitioning of food resources for five species of flower-visiting Cuban bats. I analyzed cranial traits and body size to examine differences among species and to determine the degree of morphological specialization for flower-feeding for each species. I also collected dietary data from guano and used acoustic monitoring to assess bat activity at flowers. I found evidence of partitioning of plant resources among the bat species, although evidence of limiting resources was not observed. Morphological similarity between species did not predict dietary overlap. However, species differing in their morphological specialization for flower-feeding consumed resources and visited food plants at different frequencies. Keywords Flower-visiting bats, flower visitation, food resource partitioning, ecomorphology, specialization, nectarivory, Cuba, Artibeus jamaicensis, Brachyphylla nana, Erophylla sezekorni, Monophyllus redmani, Phyllonycteris poeyi. ii Acknowledgments I thank Dr. Brock Fenton for taking me on as a graduate student and for his guidance throughout the entirety of my thesis, from its conception to the final drafts of the finished product. I would also like to extend a sincere and enthusiastic thank-you to Dr. Emanuel Mora and his amazing students in Cuba whom all made my field season such a great success. Without them my project would not have been possible. I also thank Dr. Elizabeth MacDougall-Shackleton and Dr. Jane Bowles for serving on my advisory committee and providing me with invaluable ideas, suggestions and criticisms throughout this process. I also thank Dr. Ben Rubin for all his help with my statistical analysis. Finally I thank all the members of the bat lab, past and present, for their support and invaluable advice. Specifically I would like to thank Meredith Jantzen for teaching me how to perform call analysis and Dr. Amanda Adams and Dr. Erin Fraser for showing me how to handle bats in the field. I thank Dr. Liam McGuire, Matthew Emrich, Rachel Hamilton, Colin Hayward and Leslie Reynolds for their help in developing and editing my thesis proposal. iii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................. vii List of Appendices .......................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 - Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Understanding Plant-Pollinator Interactions .......................................................... 1 1.2 Ecomorphology in Plant-Pollinator Interactions .................................................... 2 1.3 Generalists and Specialists in Flower Visitation .................................................... 3 1.4 Food Resource Partitioning .................................................................................... 6 1.5 Bats as Flower Visitors .......................................................................................... 7 1.6 Statement of Purpose ............................................................................................. 8 1.7 Study Species ......................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2 – Materials and Methods ................................................................................. 12 2.1 Study Area ........................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Morphological Analysis ....................................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Field Specimens ....................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Museum Specimens ................................................................................. 14 2.2.3 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 15 2.3 Dietary Analysis ................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Acoustic Monitoring of Flower Visitors .............................................................. 18 Chapter 3 - Results ........................................................................................................... 23 3.1 Morphological Results ......................................................................................... 23 iv 3.1.1 Field Specimens ....................................................................................... 23 3.1.2 Museum Specimens ................................................................................. 26 3.2 Diet Preferences, Breadth and Evenness .............................................................. 32 3.3 Dietary Overlap .................................................................................................... 35 3.4 Flower Preference ................................................................................................ 38 Chapter 4 –Discussion ..................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Summary of Results ............................................................................................. 40 4.2 Morphological Differences and Overlap .............................................................. 40 4.3 Food Resource Partitioning .................................................................................. 41 4.4 Morphology as a Predictor of Diet ....................................................................... 42 4.5 What Makes a Generalist or a Specialist? ............................................................ 43 4.6 Host-Plant Specialization ..................................................................................... 47 4.7 Morphological Specialization .............................................................................. 50 4.8 Dietary Specialization .......................................................................................... 50 4.9 Future Research Directions .................................................................................. 51 4.10 Significance ......................................................................................................... 53 References ........................................................................................................................ 55 Appendix B: Measurements ............................................................................................. 69 Appendix C: Echolocation ............................................................................................... 70 Appendix D: Morphological Measurements .................................................................... 71 Appendix E: Permits ........................................................................................................ 75 Curriculum Vitae ............................................................................................................. 81 v List of Tables Table 1: Locations and dates of bat captures in sites around