Meeting Abstract
A fundamental challenge in sensory biology is elucidating the relationship between an organism’s sensory adaptations and its ecology. Previous research has demonstrated that frugivorous bats have specialized olfactory systems to locate ripe fruit. However, very few studies have identified the chemicals in the fruit scents that mediate selection of suitable food items, and how these ultimately affect the dietary ecology of bats. The mutualistic relationship between short-tailed fruit bats (Carollia spp.) and their primary fruit resource, neotropical pepper plants (Piper spp.) are an ideal model system to investigate these questions; they exhibit a gradient of interdependence, and Carollia use olfaction to detect Piper fruits. We quantified the diet of Carollia and the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that compose the scent of the Piper plants they consume in Costa Rica. We further explored if dietary preferences in Carollia are associated with differences in VOC types and abundances, or if other factors like plant ecology and density are more important. We found substantial overlap in the chemical composition of fruit scents across Piper species that are consumed by Carollia, but those that dominate each of their diets are characterized by distinct chemical profiles with a high abundance of a few sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. These results sharply contrast with previous findings in other frugivorous bat lineages that specialize on Ficus, and may partially explain differences in the diet and olfactory genomes among independent origins of frugivory in bats.
