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The relative influence of competition and prey defences on the trophic structure of animalivorous bat ensembles

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Abstract

Deterministic filters such as competition and prey defences should have a strong influence on the community structure of animals like animalivorous bats which have life histories characterized by low fecundity, low predation risk, long life expectancy and stable populations. We investigated the relative influence of these two deterministic filters on the trophic structure of animalivorous bat assemblages in South Africa. We used null models to test if patterns of dietary overlap were significantly different from patterns expected by chance and multivariate analyses to test the correlations between diet and phenotype (body size, wing morphology and echolocation). We found little evidence that competition structured the trophic niche of coexisting bats. Contrary to predictions from competition, dietary overlap between bats of ensembles and functional groups (open-air, clutter-edge, and clutter foragers) were significantly higher than expected by chance. Instead, we found support for the predictions of the allotonic frequency hypothesis: there were significant relationships between peak echolocation frequency and the proportion of moths in the diets of bats at local and regional scales, and peak echolocation frequency was the best predictor of diet even after we controlled for the influence of body size and phylogeny. These results suggest that echolocation frequency and prey hearing exert more influence on the trophic structure of sympatric animalivorous bats than competition. Nonetheless, differential habitat use and sensory bias may also be major determinants of trophic structure because these are also correlated with frequencies of bat calls.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Daniel De Lemos Ribeiro, Geeta Eick and Samantha Stoffberg for their assistance in the field. Elizabeth Kalko, Christoph Meyer and an anonymous reviewer made valuable comments on previous versions of the manuscript. Funding was provided by grants to MCS from the Research Associateship Award from the University Research Committee of the University of Cape Town, and the KW Johnston Bequest Scholarship, and to DSJ from the National Research Foundation (GUN 2053611), and the University Research Committee of the University of Cape Town.

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  1. School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu–Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    M. Corrie Schoeman

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa

    M. Corrie Schoeman & David S. Jacobs

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  1. M. Corrie Schoeman
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  2. David S. Jacobs
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Correspondence to M. Corrie Schoeman.

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Communicated by Elisabeth Kalko.

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Schoeman, M.C., Jacobs, D.S. The relative influence of competition and prey defences on the trophic structure of animalivorous bat ensembles. Oecologia 166, 493–506 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-010-1854-3

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