Gonçalves Angelina, Nóbrega Eva K, Rebelo Hugo, Mata Vanessa A, Rocha Ricardo
Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Department of Biology, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal.
CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
J Mammal. 2024 Apr 9;105(3):524-533. doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyae033. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Understanding the trophic structure of species assemblages is crucial in order to comprehend how syntropic species coexist in space and time. Bats are the second most taxonomically diverse group of mammals and display a wide range of dietary strategies. Due to their ability to disperse over water, ca. 60% of all extant bat species occur on islands and for the most part their interspecific ecological interactions are poorly known. Using DNA metabarcoding, this study offers the first insights into the diet of Macaronesian bats by providing a holistic overview of prey consumed by all 3 bat species found on Madeira Island (, , and ) and investigating both interspecific (between and ) and intraspecific (between female and male ) dietary differences. We identified a total of 110 species of arthropod prey in the diet of the 3 bat species, including multiple agriculture and forestry pest species, a human disease-relevant species, and numerous taxa not previously recorded on the island. Lepidoptera was the primary prey order for all 3 bat species. The diet composition of and differed significantly, with consuming more Diptera and multiple prey taxa not found in the diet of . Moreover, male exhibited a broader niche breadth than females. This study is among the first to use DNA metabarcoding to evaluate the diet of insular bats and thus greatly advances knowledge regarding the trophic ecology and pest suppression services of these poorly-known mammals.
了解物种组合的营养结构对于理解共生物种如何在空间和时间上共存至关重要。蝙蝠是分类学上第二丰富的哺乳动物群体，展现出广泛的饮食策略。由于它们能够在水面上扩散，大约60%的现存蝙蝠物种分布在岛屿上，并且在很大程度上，它们的种间生态相互作用鲜为人知。本研究利用DNA宏条形码技术，通过全面概述在马德拉岛发现的3种蝙蝠（、和）所捕食的猎物，以及调查种间（和之间）和种内（雌性和雄性之间）的饮食差异，首次深入了解了马卡罗尼西亚蝙蝠的饮食情况。我们在这3种蝙蝠的饮食中总共鉴定出110种节肢动物猎物，包括多种农业和林业害虫物种、一种与人类疾病相关的物种，以及许多此前未在该岛上记录的分类群。鳞翅目是所有3种蝙蝠的主要猎物目。和的饮食组成有显著差异，捕食更多双翅目以及饮食中未发现的多种猎物分类群。此外，雄性的生态位宽度比雌性更宽。本研究是首批利用DNA宏条形码技术评估岛屿蝙蝠饮食的研究之一，因此极大地推进了我们对这些鲜为人知的哺乳动物的营养生态学和害虫抑制服务的认识。
