Bats play an important role in the dispersal of flowering plants in tropical forests. They are especially critical in the colonization of plants into forest gaps and man-made clearings. The goals of the proposed project are to inventory plants dispersed by bats in the forests of French Guiana; to create a tool for the identification of bat-dispersed plants based on morphological, anatomical, and molecular data; and to address hypotheses about bat/plant interactions. This project will be directed by Dr. Scott Mori, a specialist in the Guianan flora, and will utilize the expertise of Dr. Tatyana Lobova, a specialist in dispersal biology and plant morphology. To accomplish the proposed goals, a Web-based bat/plant interaction database will be enhanced and updated, a list with descriptions of the plants dispersed by bats in central French Guiana will be published and, an illustrated atlas of the seeds dispersed by bats will be created.
This project will result in the first community-wide inventory of all plants potentially dispersed by bats in a Neotropical rain forest and in the production of a guide for the identification of bat-dispersed species. This information is essential for understanding rain forest regeneration and conservation. The project will have a broad impact in achieving a better understanding of plant/animal co-evolution and will point out the important ecological and evolutionary roles that bats play in tropical ecosystems. This study will promote the conservation of bats and the plants upon which they depend.
