Faecal analyses and alimentary tracers reveal the foraging ecology of two sympatric bats.

ABSTRACT: We used three complementary methods to assess the diet of two insectivorous bat species: one an obligate aerial hunter, Miniopterus natalensis, and the other Myotis tricolor whose morphology and taxonomic affiliation to other trawling bats suggests it may be a trawler (capturing insects from the water surface with its feet and tail). We used visual inspection, stable isotope values and fatty acid profiles of insect fragments in bat faeces sampled across five sites to determine the contribution of aquatic and terrestrial arthropods to the diets of the two species. The niche widths of M. tricolor were generally wider than those of Miniopterus natalensis but with much overlap, both taking aquatic and terrestrial insects, albeit in different proportions. The diet of M. tricolor had high propor

SUBMITTER: Moyo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6964858 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature