Publication Date:
2008-04-05
Description:
Previous exclosure studies measuring the top-down control of arthropod abundance and herbivory combined the effects of birds and bats. We experimentally partitioned bird predation from bat predation in a lowland tropical forest in Panama and measured the direct effects (arthropod abundance) and indirect effects (herbivory). The exclusion of birds and bats each directly increased arthropod abundance on plants: Bird-exclosed plants contained 65% more, and bat-exclosed plants 153% more, arthropods than controls. Birds and bats also indirectly increased herbivory: Bird-exclosed plants suffered 67% more, and bat-exclosed plants 209% more, herbivory than controls. We conclude that bats have dramatic ecological effects that were previously overlooked.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kalka, Margareta B -- Smith, Adam R -- Kalko, Elisabeth K V -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 Apr 4;320(5872):71. doi: 10.1126/science.1153352.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apdo. 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon, Panama. mbkalka@gmail.com〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18388286" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Arthropods
;
*Birds
;
*Chiroptera
;
*Ecosystem
;
Panama
;
*Plant Leaves
;
Predatory Behavior
;
Random Allocation
;
*Trees
;
*Tropical Climate
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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