Within the domain of ecological studies of species interactions, those involving insects and birds are relatively more common while those dealing with volant mammals, bats, are relatively less frequently encountered. But there are 250 species of bats that pollinate and disperse the seeds of more than 130 plant genera, many of which are of substantial economic significance. Such studies have centered on individual bat species and a limited number of plant species rather than on a guild or community of bat species or a suite of plant species. Attention has been focused almost exclusively on the Neotropics, with very little study devoted to fruit bats of the Old World tropics; these two groups have undergone independent evolution toward frugivorous and nectarivorous feeding modes, and thus may differ significantly in their ecologies. A two year field study of fruit bat ecology in northeast India (the Tista valley in Sikkim), focusing on community level interactions and effects on plant reproductive success via pollination and seed dispersal, and the roles of other pollinators and dispersers (birds, moths, ants), will be undertaken. Differences between phytophagous bats of the Old World and New World, in terms of dispersal abilities and nutritional needs, will be investigated. A study of the potentially highly-coevolved relationship between the bat Eonycteris spelaea, as pollinator of a plant (Oroxylum), is planned. The conservation implications of these interactions will be studied, as will the role of these fruit bats as pests of commercial fruit production.
