Foraging and Reproductive Ecology in a Panamanian Bat Community

Abstract

Resource partitioning, reproduction, and community structure in a tropical moist forest community of 35 bat species were studied on Barro Colorado Island, Panama Canal Zone. Over a three-year span 2884 bats were captured, banded, and released; data were collected on food habits, activity cycles, habitat selection, and reproductive timing. Information on seasonality and abundance of fruit, flower, and insect resources used by bats also was collected.

Fluctuating levels of food resources require that many bat species utilize different habitats and foraging strategies through a year. Competitive interactions, predator avoidance, and climatic fluctuations further influence foraging strategies. The bat community is divided into nine feeding guilds on the basis of diet and method of food procurement. Within the most complex guilds food resources are partitioned temporarily, spacially, and by size and quality. Within the simplest guilds food resources are partitioned primarily by particle size.

Reproduction coincides with high levels of food availability. Species utilizing food sources abundant over most of the year have two litters per year.