Bat pollinators: a decade of monitoring in southern Thailand (data)

Bat pollinators: a decade of monitoring reveals declining visitation rates for some species in Thailand Alyssa B. Stewart, Supawan Srilopan, Kanuengnit Wayo, Piriya Hassa, Michele R. Dudash, Sara Bumrungsri Zoological Letters Bats are important pollinators, but they are difficult to study since they are volant and nocturnal. Thus, long-term studies of nectarivorous bats are scarce, despite their potential to help assess trends in bat populations and their pollination services. We used capture rates of nectarivorous bats at chiropterophilous flowers in order to examine temporal trends in bat visitation in an area that is undergoing extensive land use change. We mist-netted at five bat-pollinated plant taxa (Durio zibethinus, Musa acuminata, Oroxylum indicum, Parkia speciosa, and Sonneratia spp.) in southern Thailand over six years between 2011 and 2021. We found that the most common bat species, Eonycteris spelaea, was the main visitor at all five plant taxa and had consistent visitation rates across all study years. In contrast, two other important pollinators, Macroglossus minimus and M. sobrinus, experienced 80% declines in the number of individuals netted at mangrove apple (Sonneratia spp.) and banana (Musa acuminata) flowers, respectively. These findings indicate that E. spelaea (a large, cave-roosting species with a broad diet) is more tolerant of anthropogenic change than are Macroglossus bats (small, foliage-roosting species with specialized diets), which may affect the reproductive success of the plants they pollinate. Our study demonstrates how decade-long monitoring can reveal species-specific temporal patterns in pollinator visitation, emphasizing the need for tailored conservation plans. While the conservation status of most nectarivorous bats in the area is Least Concern, our results indicate that population studies in Southeast Asia are urgently needed for updated bat species conservation assessments.《蝙蝠传粉者：十年监测揭示泰国部分物种访花率下降》 艾丽莎·B·斯图尔特、素帕湾·斯里洛潘、卡嫩尼特·瓦约、皮里亚·哈萨、米歇尔·R·杜达什、萨拉·本伦格斯里 《动物学通讯》（Zoological Letters） 蝙蝠是重要的传粉者，但因其具备飞行能力且为夜行性，研究难度较大。尽管食蜜蝙蝠（nectarivorous bats）具备用于评估蝙蝠种群及其传粉服务趋势的潜力，但相关长期研究仍较为匮乏。我们通过监测食蜜蝙蝠在嗜蝠媒花（chiropterophilous flowers）上的捕获率，以探究一处正经历大规模土地利用变化区域的蝙蝠访花时间趋势。2011至2021年的六年间，我们在泰国南部对5种蝙蝠传粉的植物类群：榴莲（Durio zibethinus）、香牙蕉（Musa acuminata）、木蝴蝶（Oroxylum indicum）、大果猴耳环（Parkia speciosa）以及海桑属（Sonneratia spp.）开展了雾网采样。 研究发现，最常见的蝙蝠物种大长舌果蝠（Eonycteris spelaea）是上述5种植物类群的主要访花者，且在所有研究年份中访花率均保持稳定。与之形成鲜明对比的是，另外两种重要传粉者小长舌果蝠（Macroglossus minimus）与索氏长舌果蝠（M. sobrinus），分别在红树苹果（Sonneratia spp.）花与香蕉（Musa acuminata）花的雾网捕获个体数下降了80%。 这些研究结果表明，相较于以叶栖、食性特化为特征的长舌果蝠属（Macroglossus）蝙蝠，大长舌果蝠（体型较大、栖息于洞穴且食性广泛的物种）对人为活动引发的环境变化具有更强的耐受性，这或会对其传粉植物的繁殖成功率造成影响。 本研究证实了长达十年的监测能够揭示传粉者访花的物种特异性时间模式，强调了制定针对性保护计划的必要性。尽管该区域多数食蜜蝙蝠的保护等级为无危（Least Concern），但我们的研究结果表明，亟需开展东南亚地区的种群研究，以更新蝙蝠物种的保护评估。