DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Ecomorphological Analysis of Nectar-Feeding Performance in Flower-Visiting Bats

从干旱的沙漠到热带雨林，蝙蝠对数百种不同植物的授粉至关重要。 一些新大陆蝙蝠完全依靠花蜜和花粉生存，而另一些蝙蝠则访问花朵以补充其水果或昆虫的日常饮食。 头骨的形状与相对依赖花蜜的饮食有关。 这项研究调查了六种蝙蝠的花蜜进食能力（表现），从偶尔的访花者到花蜜专家。通过拍摄圈养蝙蝠进食形状和花蜜可用性不同的人造花来衡量进食能力。 这些实验评估了花的形状对进食性能的影响，蝙蝠可以伸出舌头的最大距离，以及蝙蝠可以提取少量花蜜的程度。 喂食实验与头骨和舌头结构的详细分析相结合，以建立解剖学和喂食性能之间的联系。 这项研究有助于我们理解解剖多样性的生物学和功能重要性，并增加了这些蝙蝠在生态系统中如何发挥作用的图片。 通过限制行为能力，解剖学差异最终有助于塑造资源利用的生态模式，并调解蝙蝠和花朵之间的相互作用。 这种解剖学和行为学数据的结合将为这些重要传粉者的多样性、进化和生态学提供新的见解。

Bats are critical for the pollination of hundreds of different plantspecies in environments from arid deserts to tropical rainforests. Some NewWorld bats exist entirely on nectar and pollen, while others visit flowersto supplement their regular diets of fruit or insects. The shape of theskull is associated with the relative reliance on nectar in the diet. Thisstudy investigates nectar-feeding ability (performance) among six species ofbats that range from occasional flower visitors to nectar specialists.Feeding performance is measured by filming captive bats feeding atartificial flowers that differ in both shape and nectar availability. Theseexperiments evaluate the impact of flower shape on feeding performance, themaximum distance bats can extend the tongue, and how well bats can extractsmall amounts of nectar. The feeding experiments are coupled with adetailed analysis of skull and tongue structure to establish associationsbetween anatomy and feeding performance. This research contributes to our understanding of the biological andfunctional importance of anatomical diversity, and adds to the picture ofhow these bats function within their ecosystems. By constraining behavioralcapabilities, anatomical differences ultimately help sculpt ecologicalpatterns of resource use and mediate the interactions between bats andflowers. This combination of anatomical and behavioral data will providenew insights into the diversity, evolution, and ecology of these importantpollinators.