Feeding efficiency of two coexisting nectarivorous bat species (Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae) at flowers of two key-resource plants.

ABSTRACT: Animals should maximize their energy uptake while reducing the costs for foraging. For flower-visitors these costs and benefits are rather straight forward as the energy uptake equals the caloric content of the consumed nectar while the costs equal the handling time at the flower. Due to their energetically demanding lifestyle, flower-visiting bats face particularly harsh energetic conditions and thus need to optimize their foraging behavior at the flowers of the different plant species they encounter within their habitat. In flight cage experiments we examined the nectar-drinking behavior (i.e. hovering duration, nectar uptake, and the resulting feeding efficiency) of the specialized nectar-feeding bat Hylonycteris underwoodi and the more generalistic Glossophaga commissarisi at flowers o

SUBMITTER: Bechler JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11207168 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature