Evolution of Diet in Bats
Sharlene E. Santana, a
PhD student in OEB, studies how diet and morphology have evolved in New World leaf-nosed bats (phyllostomids). There are over 1,000 species of
bats, and among these, phyllostomids are the most diverse in terms of their diet and morphology. Phyllostomids live in the American tropics and
subtropics, from Southern United States to Central and South America, and in a variety of environments that include tropical rainforests and
deserts. In these habitats, different phyllostomid species have specialized in eating different foods, such as insects, fruits, nectar, frogs, birds, small
mammals, and even blood. As a consequence, phyllostomids are key species in tropical ecosystems because they can disperse the seeds of the fruits
they eat, pollinate flowers, and control insect populations.
Even though we know fairly well about the ecological roles of phyllostomids, we know very little about how they evolved to be so diverse and specialize in eating different foods. Phyllostomids that have different diets have also different morphologies, for example, species that eat nectar have a very long snout, while those who eat hard fruits have a very short and broad snout. However, it is not known how having a particular morphology helps them to be adapted to each diet. In that sense, Sharlene is looking at how differences in head shape, head muscles and tooth shape affect two important aspects of feeding, bite force and biting behavior. To do this, she goes to forests in the American tropics, catches bats, measures their bite forces and heads, and videotapes them eating their preferred foods. By integrating this information gathered in the field with laboratory studies in UMass, Sharlene hopes to help understand better the evolution of diet in phyllostomids and bats in general.
Bat related sites:
319 Morrill S. 
