| Title: | Nocturnal scent in a 'bird-fig': A cue to attract bats as additional dispersers? |
| Author(s): | Ripperger SP; Rehse S; Wacker S; Kalko EKV; Schulz S; Rodriguez-Herrera B; Ayasse M; |
| Address: | "Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee, Ulm, Germany. Museum fur Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut fur Evolutions- und Biodiversitatsforschung, Invalidenstrasse, Berlin, Germany. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Technische Universitat Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig, Hagenring, Braunschweig, Germany. Escuela de Biologia, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa Rica" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0220461 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The plant genus Ficus is a keystone resource in tropical ecoystems. One of the unique features of figs is the diversity of fruit traits, which in many cases match their various dispersers, the so-called fruit syndromes. The classic example of this is the strong phenotypic differences found between figs with bat and bird dispersers (color, size, presentation, and scent). The 'bird-fig' Ficus colubrinae represents an exception to this trend since it attracts the small frugivorous bat species Ectophylla alba at night, but during the day it attracts bird visitors. Here we investigate day to night changes in fruit scent as a possible mechanism by which this 'bird-fig' could attract bats despite its fruit traits, which should appeal solely to birds. Analyses of odor bouquets from the bat- and bird-dispersal phases (i.e. day and night) differed significantly in their composition of volatiles. We observed a significant increase in relative amounts of sesquiterpene and aromatic compounds at night while relative amounts of two compounds of the fatty acid pathway were significantly higher during day. This finding raises the question whether Ficus colubrinae, a phenotypically classic 'bird-fig', might be able to attract bat dispersers by an olfactory signal at night. Preliminary observations from feeding experiments which indicate that Ectophylla alba is capable of finding ripe figs by scent alone point in this direction. However, additional behavioral experiments on whether bats prefer the 'night-bouquet' over the 'day-bouquet' will be needed to unequivocally answer this question" |
| Keywords: | Animals Chiroptera Feeding Behavior/*physiology *Ficus *Odorants Seed Dispersal/*physiology; |
| Notes: | "MedlineRipperger, Simon P Rehse, Saskia Wacker, Stefanie Kalko, Elisabeth K V Schulz, Stefan Rodriguez-Herrera, Bernal Ayasse, Manfred eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2019/08/16 PLoS One. 2019 Aug 15; 14(8):e0220461. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220461. eCollection 2019" |
