Fruit hardness, feeding behavior, and resource partitioning in a New Guinea frugivore community.
Dumont, E.R.
Fruit bat communities in New Guinea include species with a variety of body sizes, morphologies, and foraging styles. These suites of characteristics define the ways in which sympatric species partition fruit resources. Studies of resource partitioning focus on morphological variation among animals, but few evaluate the role of variation in food resources. Fruits eaten by pteropodids vary in hardness; small bats tend to use softer fruits while larger bats consume fruits with a wide range of textures. This study investigates the relationship between fruit hardness and feeding behavior in five sympatric pteropodid species from New Guinea (Syconycteris australis, Dobsonia minor, Paranyctimene raptor, Nyctimene albiventer, and Pteropus conspicillatus). Several individuals of each species were presented with soft and hard fruit of the same size. Both biting style and chewing behaviour vary significantly among species for both fruit types. Approaches to fruit processing are similar among among Pteropus and Dobsonia, and among Paranyctimene and Nyctimene. Syconycteris is unique. Pteropus, Dobsonia and Syconycteris exhibit significant shifts in feeding behaviour in response to changing fruit hardness. These results suggest that fruit hardness plays a role in resource partitioning within chiropteran frugivore communities.
