Meeting Abstract
Chemical signals are key mediators of many ecological interactions, and are particularly important for fruit localization and selection by frugivores. Piper is a Pantropical plant genus that exhibits mutualistic interactions with bats in the Neotropical portion of its range. Though Piper scents attract bats to ripe fruits, little is known about the chemical composition, diversity, and evolution of these signals in the context of biotic interactions. To address this gap, we quantified the chemical composition of scents produced by ripe fruits, unripe fruits and vegetation of 26 species of Neotropical Piper using dynamic headspace adsorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques. We found that Piper species that are consumed by bats have a similar chemical composition of fruit scents, but fruits of most Piper species have distinct signatures defined by their most abundant volatile organic chemicals. These include sesquiterpenes and monoterpene hydrocarbons such as apiol, cubebene, caryophyllene and safrole, some of which are involved in diverse ecological processes such as pollination, herbivory and frugivory in other systems. The scents of ripe fruit, unripe fruit and vegetation are more similar within than among Piper species. However, scent bouquets of each plant part are also distinct. Therefore, we predict that bats cue in on a general Piper scent, and then choose ripe fruits and particular species based on signals constituted by the most abundant and distinct volatiles.
