Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations Graduate Capstone Projects 2011 Diet of three mormoopid bats (mormoops blainvillei, pteronotus quadridens, and pteronotus portoricensis ) on Puerto Rico Ashley K. Rolfe Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/theses Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Rolfe, Ashley K., "Diet of three mormoopid bats (mormoops blainvillei, pteronotus quadridens, and pteronotus portoricensis ) on Puerto Rico" (2011). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 349. http://commons.emich.edu/theses/349 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Master's Theses, and Doctoral Dissertations, and Graduate Capstone Projects at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Diet of Three Mormoopid Bats (Mormoops blainvillei, Pteronotus quadridens, and Pteronotus portoricensis) on Puerto Rico by Ashley Kay Rolfe Thesis Submitted to the Department of Biology Eastern Michigan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Biology Thesis Committee: Allen Kurta, Ph.D. Chair Daniel Clemans, Ph.D. Jamin Eisenbach, P.h.D. Armando Rodríguez-Durán, Ph.D Submitted October 10, 2011 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my family, who have not only tolerated my life-long weirdness, but embraced it by educating others about bats and my research! Thank you for all your love, support, and encouragement through the hard times. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank everyone who helped me toward a successful project. To A. Kurta, thank you for giving me the opportunity to conduct research with you and, more importantly, taking a risk in letting me do my master's work in Puerto Rico. I learned more through my experiences at Eastern Michigan University and through working with you than I ever thought possible, and for that I am eternally grateful. I thank J. Eisenbach for teaching me that A = B + C and for being my go-to guy, as well as D. Clemans for taking the time to work with me on my project, teaching me about molecular biology, and trusting an ecologist enough to work in his lab. To Tio (A. Rodríguez-Durán), gracias por cuidarme mientras yo estaba en Puerto Rico y por dejarme usar Mata de Plátano para mi investigación. A special thanks to E. Clare for timely, helpful, and thorough responses to my emails containing numerous questions on the techniques of PCR; and to J. O. Whitaker, Jr., for teaching me how to conduct dietary analysis of guano. Others in the Department of Biology to whom I give thanks are M. Hanes, for encouraging conversations; K. Greenwald, for phylogenetic assistance; S. Francoeur, for statistical advice and a backup copy of CANOCO; J. VandenBosch and G. Walker, for laughs and beers at the Corner that kept me going strong; K. Mitchell and J. Kirk, for friendship and lab expertise; and M. Laporte, for providing funding that allowed me to give professional presentations on my research. I also thank J. Sandoval for being one of the greatest friends I’ll ever have, and for being the world’s best bat-catching partner! Additional thanks to S. LaZorick, for assisting me in the field; L. Stackhouse, for being the best friend I could ever have; and the Acme Seminar Series (formally known as the DSS), for moral support. Last, I thank the Department of Natural Resources of Puerto Rico for permission to catch bats on the island and Ciudadanos del Karso and Interamerican ii University at Bayamón for allowing me to stay and work at Mata de Plátano. Thank you all for making my experience at EMU and in Puerto Rico nothing but awesome. I received two Meta Hellwig Research Fellowships from the Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University, and a grant from the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund of the American Museum of Natural History to help finance my research; additional funding was provided through two Faculty Research Fellowships awarded to A. Kurta by Eastern Michigan University. iii ABSTRACT This study used visual analysis to determine the percent volume and percent frequency of orders of insects in the guano of the Antillean ghost-faced bat (Mormoops blainvillei), sooty mustached bat (Pteronotus quadridens), and Puerto Rican mustached bat (Pteronotus portoricensis). The most common orders for all three species were Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera, although the relative proportions of these orders differed among species. Variation in diet was primarily due to species, but season, habitat, and sex also affected the composition of insects in the feces. In addition, species-level identification of prey was achieved through molecular techniques that examined mitochondrial DNA isolated from fragments of arthropods contained within the guano of M. blainvillei and P. quadridens. A total of 18 and 6 species of insect were identified to species for M. blainvillei and P. quadridens, respectively, and nine of these species were either pests of agricultural crops or vectors of human disease. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication.................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... ii–iii Abstract................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables............................................................................................................................ vi List of Figures......................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Standard Fecal Analysis.......................................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 2 Methods....................................................................................................................... 12 Results......................................................................................................................... 17 Discussion................................................................................................................... 20 Literature Cited........................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Molecular Analysis of Feces................................................................................. 64 Introduction................................................................................................................ 65 Methods...................................................................................................................... 69 Results........................................................................................................................ 73 Discussion.................................................................................................................. 75 Literature Cited........................................................................................................... 83 v LIST OF TABLES 1.1. Number of pellets used for standard fecal analysis......................................................... 38 1.2. Number of individuals used for standard fecal analysis.................................................. 39 1.3. The percent frequency of arthropods consumed by each species……............................ 40 1.4. The percent volume of insects consumed by each species of bat………………......….. 41 1.5. Ranking of independent variables for the interspecific CCA………...……...…....….... 42 1.6. Ranking of independent variables for the intraspecific CCA......................................... 43 1.7. Comparison of overall Simpson’s indices....................................................................... 44 1.8. Comparison of dietary diversity between moist and xeric habitats................................. 45 1.9. Comparison of dietary diversity between seasons……................................................... 46 1.10. Comparison of dietary overlap between north and south……...................................... 47 1.11. Comparison of dietary overlap between seasons…………........................................... 48 1.12. Percent volume between habitats and between seasons……........................................ 49 2.1. Number of samples of DNA extracted and amplified……............................................. 89 2.2. Insects found in the diet of M. blainvillei……............................……............................ 90 2.3. Insects found in the diet of P. quadridens……............................……............................ 92 2.4. Amplification of samples for different methods of preservation ………………..….… 93 2.5. Comparison of the methods of preservation………………………………….……..… 94 2.6. Amplification of samples for different primers……………..……..………………..… 95 2.7. Amount of amplification among studies……………….…………………..………….. 96 2.8. Comparison of the amount of amplification among studies..………………..….…..... 97 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1. Physiographic regions of Puerto Rico.............................................................................