Large-seeded plants dispersed by tent-roosting bats along an altitudinal gradient in Costa Rica

Besides the well-known preferences among some bats with their core plants (Artibeus-Ficus, Carollia-Piper, Sturnira-Solanum), there is a hidden part of the interaction network based on plants dispersed via stomatochory (when seeds are carried on in the mouth and dispersed without been swallowed). Large seeds are not detected by traditional feces analysis used to describe the diet of Neotropical bats. However, looking for feeding roosts can increase the information related to bats and large-seeded plants interaction. Tent-roosting bats are a specialized group of fruit-eating bats that select and modify leaves to be used as roosts or feeding roosts called tents. We worked along the altitudinal gradient of Braulio Carrillo National Park, we looked for tents, checked large seeds presence under them, and performed a network analysis to determine whether bats have focal species of large-seeded plants. We expected tent-roosting bats to vary their fruit consumption of large-seeded plants along this altitudinal gradient. We also made a literature review to provide a reference for the large-seeded plants consumed by tent-roosting bats. Based on the literature review and the two new interactions recorded in this study, there are 71 species of large-seeded plants dispersed by tent-roosting bats. We found 733 tents, 79 tent-feeding roosts, and 670 seeds corresponding to 12 families under those tents. Our study demonstrated that large-seeded plants, such as Spondias radlkoferi, Pourouma minor, and Calophyllum brasiliense, are essential in the bat-plant interaction network, since they complement the interactions that bats have with other plants dispersed via endozoochory.