A nectar oasis for urban Glossophaginae bats: Temporal resource dynamics of the chiropterophilous Crescentia cujete (Bignoniaceae)

《A nectar oasis for urban Glossophaginae bats: Temporal resource dynamics of the chiropterophilous Crescentia cujete (Bignoniaceae)》

打印

作者: Sinzinando Albuquerque-Lima;Ugo M. Diniz;Isabel C.S. Machado

来源: URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING,Vol.67,Issue1,Article 127412

语言: 英文

关键字: Calabash-tree;Chiropterophily;Glossophaga soricina;Nectar dynamics;Pollinator-friendly plants;Urban plant-pollinator interaction

作者单位: Laboratory of Floral and Reproductive Biology, Botany Department, Center of Biosciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, 1235 Prof. Moraes Rego Avenue, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil;Laboratory of Bat Biology and Conservation, Zoology Department, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, Brazil;Laboratory of Floral and Reproductive Biology, Botany Department, Center of Biosciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, 1235 Prof. Moraes Rego Avenue, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil;Laboratory of Bat Biology and Conservation, Zoology Department, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Brasília, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, Brazil

摘要: Pollinator-friendly plants are often a necessary component of the management of urban ecosystem that aim to reduce the impact of the artificial urban matrix on natural pollinator populations. Nectarivorous bats are neglected components of the urban pollinator community and there is a paucity of assessments on pollinator-friendly plants that may provide urban bats with reliable, year-long resources. Crescentia cujete is a bat-pollinated Bignoniaceae with very distinctive chiropterophilous features that is often used as an ornamental species in tropical urban areas worldwide. Its flowers are large and produce copious amounts of nectar, which accumulates in the flower’s storage-shaped flowers. Thus, the species is a potential bat-friendly urban plant. We assessed the species’ year-round flower emission and nightly nectar production dynamics in a green area in northeastern Brazil, and described the behavior of its floral visitors. C. cujete showed a steady, year-round flowering pattern, with no significant seasonality. Its flowers secreted copious amounts of diluted nectar and were visited exclusively by the Pallas long-tongued bat Glossophaga soricina throughout the night at high visiting frequencies, delivering successive visits to individual flowers spaced by short intervals. Our results suggest overexploitation of floral resources from C. cujete by urban bats. Moreover, its continuous flowering and copious nectar production may become a reliable resource in an artificial environment generally lacking bat-pollinated plants, thus mitigating the effects of food shortage for urban nectar bats.