Utilização e recursos alimentares por morcegos fitófagos e influência na dispersão de sementes em um remanescente de floresta estacional semidecidual montana no semiárido brasileiro

Abstract

Bats are among the most abundant mammals in neotropical environments, where they act in the seeds dispersion of several plant species, contributing to the succession mechanisms of these areas. The altitude swamps are the Atlantic Forest enclaves, which although located within the semiarid region, they present humid forest formations and seasonal forests that shelter a great animals diversity and an extremely rich and diversified flora, that are threatened because of the fragmentation and the hunting. The presence of seed dispersing organisms is fundamental for the regeneration of these environments. Knowing that bats can present a generalist diet, the present study had the objective of analyzing the alimentary preferences of the phytophagous bats in a fragment of Seasonal Semideciduous Montana Forest and to verify the influence of the diet on the dispersion of seeds. Bats were captured using fog nets; The vegetable samples were collected to help in the identification of the fruits consumed and the diet was determined by the analysis of the collection of the bats feces. Through diet and observation of bats in fruit trees could be known which have seeds dispersed by bats. The fecal samples analysis showed a concentration of diet in fruits of Ficus mexiae, Cecropia pachystachya and Solanum. The analysis of the consumed seeds showed that the most remains viable for germination after passing through the digestive tract of bats. In addition, 56% of the fruits consumed by chiroptera have endozoocortical seeds, distributed among 20 plant species, which are transported from the mother plant to other localities, favoring the dispersal process. The viability of the released seeds and the large number of fruits used containing seeds that can be transported indicate the importance of bats as dispersers and their influence on the recovery of these forest fragments in the brazilian semiarid region.