Checklist of species dispersed by bats in
central French Guiana
Tatyana A. Lobova & Scott
A. Mori
2005
The New York Botanical Garden
This checklist includes only those species of plants that have been reported in the literature to be bat-dispersed based on studies throughout the Neotropics or have been collected and identified by us from fecal samples or from under the feeding roosts of bats in French Guiana. Many other species of plants are potentially dispersed by bats, but they have not yet been documented with collections and theretofore are not included in this checklist. There are 1,918 native flowering plant species from 133 families known from central French Guiana (Mori et al., 2002b). From them 114 native species from 31 families are included in the checklist as bat-dispersed. Thus 6% of species in primary lowland forest in central French Guiana are known to depend on bats for seed dispersal. Additional nine species from eight families listed are not native but cultivated in central French Guiana. This case it noted in parentheses. The type of dispersal is determined based on where the diaspore was found, i.e. if the diaspore was found in fecal samples it considered to be endozoochorously dispersed, if the diaspore was found under the day/night feeding roost or in the mouth of a bat and had not passed through the bat’s digestive tract it is listed as stomatochorously dispersed, and if the diaspore has no edible parts and adheres to the bat’s fur it is listed as epizoochorously dispersed (a single species, see Lobova & Mori, 2004). In cases when the source of diaspores is unknown, the type of dispersal is determined based on the size of diaspore, i.e. if smaller than 8 mm in longest dimension it is considered to be endozoochorously dispersed, if it is bigger or equal to 8 mm in longest dimension it is considered to be stomatochorously dispersed. The names of species and family concepts are used in correspondence with the Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central French Guiana (Mori et al., 1997, 2002a) for easier comparison and use. In case if family concept used is not accepted by modern taxonomical system of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG; Stevens, 2001 onwards; as they were circumscribed January 2005) there is a reference to another taxon. |
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Acknowledgments This material is based upon work supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization under the Grant awarded in 2003 and by the National Science Foundation under the Grant No 0414098. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of NATO or NSF. Literature Cited Lobova, T. A. & S. A. Mori. 2004. Epizoochorous dispersal by bats in French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 581-582. Mori, S. A., G. Cremers, C. Gracie, J.-J. de Granville, M. Hoff & J. D. Mitchell. 1997. Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana . Part 1. Pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76(1): 1-422. Mori, S. A., G. Cremers, C. Gracie, J.-J. de Granville, S. V. Heald, M. Hoff & J. D. Mitchell. 2002a. Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana . Part 2. Dicotyledons. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 76(2): 1-776. Mori, S. A., C. Gracie, M. Hoff & T. Kirchgessner. 2002b. Checklist of the gymnosperms and flowering plants of central French Guiana. Distributed to the libraries of the Flora of the Guianas consortium. Stevens, P.F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 5, May 2004. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/. |
For problems or questions, please contact Tatyana Lobova tlobova@odu.edu