Abstract
The expansion of cities and agricultural plantations have unpredictable impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet some species are capable of tolerating anthropogenic impacts and continue to provide ecological services in highly disturbed landscapes. The objective of this study was to use DNA barcoding to identify digested plant materials and seeds in the faeces of frugivorous bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) and investigate whether (1) C. brachyotis in urban and agricultural areas exploit cultivated and exotic plants as a novel food resource and as a consequence, potentially facilitate the invasion of cultivated and exotic plants, or whether (2) C. brachyotis exploit native plants and as a consequence, potentially promote forest regeneration. A native species, Ficus fistulosa, was the most frequently detected plant and the seeds were found in bat faeces from all sampling sites suggesting the potential of fruit bats in dispersing seeds. However, we also detected several exotic plants in the faeces of C. brachyotis which suggests that the fruit bats exploit novel food resources at all sites. We recorded a diverse diet of C. brachyotis at an oil palm plantation which indicated that the fruit bats are not predominantly feeding on oil palm fruits. By using DNA barcoding, we detected plants that have not been reported in previous studies of the diet of C. brachyotis, although we could not identify which part of the plant was being consumed by the fruit bats. Given the varied diet of C. brachyotis, the potential of this bat to adapt to changing landscapes is high and they are likely dispersing seeds of native pioneer plants (Ficus).
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Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by the Institutional Links grant 172726351 under the Newton - Ungku Omar Fund, through the British Council in the UK and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology in Malaysia. The Newton Fund is Overseas Development Assistance administered through the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). For further information, please visit www.newtonfund.ac.uk. We thank Keane Lai Soen Liong from Sime Darby Plantation for allowing us to conduct fieldwork at the oil palm plantation. Tan Kai Ren, Chua Li Pei, Brandon Mong Guo Jie, Tan Yi Wen and The Rimba Project, University of Malaya (https://www.facebook.com/umrimba) provided assistance during fieldwork. Sugumaran Manickam from the Herbarium, University of Malaya for the advice on plant identification. We thank the team at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, particularly Maria Kuzmina, for their lab services and advice on analysis procedures. This project was presented at Conservation Asia 2016.
Funding
This study was funded by the Institutional Links grant 172,726,351 under the Newton - Ungku Omar Fund, through the British Council in the UK and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology in Malaysia.
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Morphological data and raw sequence data are provided in BOLD under project code VCCBD and available in GenBank under accessions KY080541 to KY080613 and KY080617 to KY080686.
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Criteria used to assign species names to DNA barcodes. (XLSX 45 kb)
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Lim, VC., Clare, E.L., Littlefair, J.E. et al. Impact of urbanisation and agriculture on the diet of fruit bats. Urban Ecosyst 21, 61–70 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-017-0700-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-017-0700-3