Abstract

Neotropical fruit bats of the genus Carollia consume the infructescences of native Piper species. Black pepper, Piper nigrum, a species exotic to the Neotropics, has been planted in several countries of Latin America. Black pepper has been reported as a frequent item in the diet of C. brevicauda and also has found in the diet of C. perspicillata. Essential oils of Neotropical Piper species may attract Carollia bats, and probably increase the value of food containing them. However, since black pepper is originally from Asia, its essential oils may act as chemical defenses against non-dispersers such as the Neotropical fruit bats. Therefore, we used the giving-up density technique (GUD), to evaluate the effect of the essential oils of black pepper in food on the foraging behavior of C. perspicillata. We offered captive male bats artificial food with and without the essential oils of P. nigrum and measured their GUDs. The addition of the essential oils of P. nigrum greatly increased the bats’ GUD, indicating that male C. perspicillata treated such secondary metabolites as toxins.

摘要

卡罗利亚属的新热带果蝠以本地胡椒属物种的果序为食。黑胡椒（Piper nigrum）是新热带地区的外来物种，已在拉丁美洲的几个国家种植。据报道，黑胡椒是C. brevicauda饮食中的常见成分，并且在C. perspicillata饮食中也有发现。新热带胡椒品种的精油可能会吸引卡罗利亚蝙蝠，并可能增加含有它们的食物的价值。然而，由于黑胡椒原产于亚洲，其精油可能对新热带果蝠等非扩散生物起到化学防御作用。因此，我们采用放弃密度技术（GUD）来评价食品中黑胡椒精油对C. perspicillata觅食行为的影响。我们为圈养的雄性蝙蝠提供添加或不添加P. nigrum精油的人造食物，并测量了它们的 GUD。添加黑胡椒精油大大增加了蝙蝠的 GUD，表明雄性C. perspicillata将此类次生代谢物视为毒素。