Abstract

VELASQUEZ-ROA, Tatiana  and  MURILLO-GARCIA, Oscar E. INFLUENCE OF BAT MORPHOLOGY ON STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF A PLANT-FRUGIVORE NETWORKInfluencia de la morfología de los murciélagos en las propiedades estructurales de una red de frugívoros y plantas. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2019, vol.26, n.2, pp.440-451.  Epub Jan 07, 2019. ISSN 0327-9383.

Identifying factors that influence the importance of species for mutualistic interactions is crucial for designing management and conservation strategies that aim to conserve ecosystem functions. Even though bats are key seed-dispersers, factors that influence their importance for structural properties of seed-dispersal networks are poorly studied. We evaluated the influence of cranial morphology, phylogenetic legacy and abundance of frugivorous bats on the structural properties of an interaction network in a tropical dry forest. Consequently, we captured bats and identified interactions with plants by collecting and identifying seeds from fecal samples. Then, we described network structure by using network-level indexes and assessed the contribution of bats to network structure by using species-level indexes. Analysis of the mutualistic network indicated that: (1) there are few species with high number of interactions, (2) the structure was more compartmentalized and less nested than expected, (3) there are subgroups of bats and plants that are highly connected among them, and (4) network would collapse promptly with the loss of bats with most interactions (generalist). Furthermore, bats that contribute the most to network structure tended to have short rostrum and wide cranium and/or were abundant, with Artibeus lituratus being the most important bat; however, contribution to network structure did not have phylogenetic signal. According to the interaction neutrality hypothesis, species’ abundances drive the chances of individuals encountering and interacting with other species. However, our results suggest that frugivores bats are not functionally equivalent since contribution of species to network’s structure was associated with both cranial morphologically and abundance.

Keywords : abundancia; dispersión de semillas; estructura de redes; morfología craneal; señal filogenética.