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Fruit scent as an indicator of ripeness status in ‘bat fruits’ to attract ‘fruit bats’: chemical basis of chiropterochory

Fruit scent as an indicator of ripeness status in ‘bat fruits’ to attract ‘fruit bats’: chemical... In the tropics, animal-mediated seed dispersal is the most frequently occurring dispersal syndrome, which includes traits that aid in attracting both diurnal and nocturnal dispersers. However, some plants bear fruits with special traits that make them less conspicuous to diurnal frugivores to make them exclusively available to nocturnal frugivores such as bats, which are called ‘bat fruits’. Since these fruits remain drab green in colour throughout their phases of ontogeny, the difference in scent compounds is predicted to help bats to assess their ripeness status. In this study, we specifically examined the behavioural repertoires associated with fruit removal such as ‘search latency’ and ‘number of attempts’ taken by two small-sized fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx and Rousettus leschenaulti) that feed ex situ and a large-sized fruit bat (Pteropus giganteus) that feed in situ on a bat fruit (Madhuca indica). No fruit was removed on the ‘first’ attempt itself by both the bats; instead, they made multiple (two to six) repeated search attempts to the same bunch of fruits, which is presumably a behavioural mechanism underlying assessing the ripeness status to increase the chance of removal of ripe fruits. The emission of scent compounds was examined using a high-sensitivity headspace proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer in real time without any pre-treatment. As predicted, the fruits at the predispersal (unripe) and dispersal (ripe) phases differed significantly from each other in terms of concentration (intensity) of volatile compounds although no difference was inferred in terms of their composition. This study, thereby, highlights the underlying chemical basis of the foraging behaviour of fruit bats while foraging on bat fruits that finally effectuate its seed dispersal (chiropterochory). http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png acta ethologica Springer Journals

Fruit scent as an indicator of ripeness status in ‘bat fruits’ to attract ‘fruit bats’: chemical basis of chiropterochory

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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) under exclusive licence to ISPA, CRL 2022. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
ISSN
0873-9749
eISSN
1437-9546
DOI
10.1007/s10211-022-00405-1
Publisher site
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Abstract

In the tropics, animal-mediated seed dispersal is the most frequently occurring dispersal syndrome, which includes traits that aid in attracting both diurnal and nocturnal dispersers. However, some plants bear fruits with special traits that make them less conspicuous to diurnal frugivores to make them exclusively available to nocturnal frugivores such as bats, which are called ‘bat fruits’. Since these fruits remain drab green in colour throughout their phases of ontogeny, the difference in scent compounds is predicted to help bats to assess their ripeness status. In this study, we specifically examined the behavioural repertoires associated with fruit removal such as ‘search latency’ and ‘number of attempts’ taken by two small-sized fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx and Rousettus leschenaulti) that feed ex situ and a large-sized fruit bat (Pteropus giganteus) that feed in situ on a bat fruit (Madhuca indica). No fruit was removed on the ‘first’ attempt itself by both the bats; instead, they made multiple (two to six) repeated search attempts to the same bunch of fruits, which is presumably a behavioural mechanism underlying assessing the ripeness status to increase the chance of removal of ripe fruits. The emission of scent compounds was examined using a high-sensitivity headspace proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer in real time without any pre-treatment. As predicted, the fruits at the predispersal (unripe) and dispersal (ripe) phases differed significantly from each other in terms of concentration (intensity) of volatile compounds although no difference was inferred in terms of their composition. This study, thereby, highlights the underlying chemical basis of the foraging behaviour of fruit bats while foraging on bat fruits that finally effectuate its seed dispersal (chiropterochory).

Journal

acta ethologica – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 1, 2023

Keywords: Foraging; Search latency; Fruit ripeness; Scent compounds; PTR-MS; VOCs

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