Island bat diets: does it matter more who you are or where you live?

Differences in body size, echolocation call frequency, and location may result in diet partitioning among bat species. Comparisons among island populations are one way to evaluate these competing hypotheses. We conducted a species-level diet analysis of three Rhinolophus and one Hipposideros species on the Philippine islands of Cebu, Bohol, and Siquijor. We identified 655 prey (MOTUs) in the guano from 77 individual bats. There was a high degree of overlap among species’ diets despite differences in body size and call frequency. For example, the diet of the 3 g-Hipposideros pygmaeus (mean CF = 102 kHz) exhibited a diet overlap higher than expected by chance with all three Rhinolophus species, even the 13 g-Rhinolophus inops (mean CF = 54 kHz). We observed more convergence in diet between Rhinolophus species and H. pygmaeus than between Rhinolophus species themselves, which may be explained by the broad diet of H. pygmaeus. There was less dietary overlap between Rhinolophus virgo from tw...