Authors
I Izhaki, C Korine, Z Arad
Publication date
1995/3
Journal
Oecologia
Volume
101
Pages
335-342
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Description
The fruit-bat Rousettus aegyptiacus (Pteropodidae) in Israel consumes a variety of cultivated and wild fruits. The aim of this study was to explore some of its qualities as a dispersal agent for six fruit-bearing plant species. The feeding roosts of the fruit-bat are located an average of 30 m from its feeding trees and thus the bats disperse the seeds away from the shade of the parent canopy. The bat spits out large seeds but may pass some (2%) of the small seeds (<4 mg) through its digestive tract. However, neither the deposited seeds nor the ejected seeds (except in one case) had a significantly higher percentage germinating than intact seeds. Although the fruit-bat did not increase the percentage germinating, seeds of three plant species subject to different feeding behaviors (deposited in feces or spat out as ejecta) had a different temporal pattern of germination from the intact seeds. The combined seed …
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