Interactions between carnivorous pitcher plants and bats in Borneo

婆罗洲食虫猪笼草和蝙蝠之间的相互作用

• 批准号: 193718648
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Gerald Kerth
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Faculty of Science
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2010-12-31 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/193718648?language=en
• 关键词: Interactions; between; carnivorous; pitcher; plants

We study an extraordinary mutualistic interaction (resource-service) between bats and carnivorous pitcher plants in Borneo. Recently, we showed that the pitcher plant Nepenthes rafflesiana var. elongata gains about a third of its nitrogen demand from faeces of Hardwicke’s woolly bats (Kerivoula hardwickii hardwickii) that exclusively roost in its aerial pitchers. We hypothesise that the extraordinary pitcher form of N. r. elongata, which makes them poor insect traps compared to other pitcher plants, is an evolutionary adaptation to serve as a day roost for bats. To investigate a possible dependence between the partners of this fascinating interaction as well as costs and benefits that they gain from their interactions, we will use a combination of: 1) field and lab observations of the bats’ behaviour towards pitcher plants, 2) field and lab experiments measuring the benefits and costs the pitcher plants obtain from the presence of the bats, 3) genetic analyses of population structures of bats and pitcher plants, and 4) chemical analyses of the nitrogen contents of pitcher plants growing under natural conditions in the field and controlled conditions in the lab. Allowing for experimental manipulation, the pitcher-plant-bat system offers an excellent opportunity to examine an exceptional form of inter-specific relationship between plants and mammals.

我们研究了婆罗洲蝙蝠和肉食性猪笼草之间非同寻常的互惠互动（资源服务）。最近，我们发现猪笼草（Nepenthes rafflesiana var. elongata）大约三分之一的氮需求来自只栖息在其空中罐上的哈德威克毛蝠（Kerivoula hardwickii hardwickii）的粪便。我们假设，与其他猪笼草相比，长叶草独特的猪笼草形状使它们的捕虫能力较差，这是一种进化适应，可以作为蝙蝠的日间栖息地。为了调查这种有趣互动的伙伴之间可能存在的依赖关系，以及他们从互动中获得的成本和收益，我们将使用以下组合：1)实地和实验室观察蝙蝠对猪笼草的行为，2)实地和实验室实验测量猪笼草从蝙蝠的存在中获得的收益和成本，3)蝙蝠和猪笼草种群结构的遗传分析，以及4)化学分析在野外自然条件下和实验室受控条件下生长的猪笼草的氮含量。允许实验操作，投手-植物-蝙蝠系统提供了一个极好的机会来研究植物和哺乳动物之间特殊形式的种间关系。