Agave distribution and floral display influence foraging rates of an endangered pollinating bat and implications for conservation.

ABSTRACT: Wildlife conservation involves making management decisions with incomplete knowledge of ecological relationships. Efforts to augment foraging resources for the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis) are progressing despite limited knowledge about the species' foraging behavior and requirements. This study aimed to understand L. nivalis responses to floral resource availability, focusing on individual agave- and local-scale characteristics influencing visitation rates to flowering agaves. We observed bat visitation at 62 flowering agaves around two roosts in northeast Mexico on 46 nights in the summers of 2017 and 2018. We found visitation rate had positive relationships with two agave-scale characteristics: the number of umbels with open flowers and the low

SUBMITTER: Lear KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10941551 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature