背景:许多具有生态意义的植物被授粉或种子被果棒分散,包括分布广泛的非洲稻草色果蝙蝠(Eidolonhelvum)。它们长距离飞行的能力使它们对于在支离破碎的景观中连接植物种群至关重要。虽然蝙蝠被认为是传染病的储存库,它们在疾病传播给人类中的作用还没有得到很好的理解。在这项试点研究中,我们追踪了E.helvum,以揭示它们在坦桑尼亚的运动模式以及与其他物种的可能接触。
方法:跟踪装置部署在坦桑尼亚Udzungwa山脉附近的莫罗哥罗市和基隆贝罗区地区捕获的25只蝙蝠上。夜间飞行模式,对应于觅食回合和觅食栖息地的区域,根据蝙蝠运动数据确定新的栖息地,并根据它们与城市建筑和保护区的接近程度来表征。通过跟踪数据确定使用相机陷阱进行额外环境监测的地点,以确定与蝙蝠丢弃的水果接触的物种。
结果:跟踪数据揭示了蝙蝠个体运动和对觅食区域的保真度之间的差异。蝙蝠从一到六个晚上被追踪,根据高分辨率GPS标签的数据,平均累积夜间飞行距离为26.14km(min:0.33,max:97.57)。虽然他们的大部分觅食地点都在市区或市区附近,蝙蝠也在保护区觅食,其中Udzungwa山国家公园是最经常光顾的。追踪蝙蝠经常光顾的果园中的相机陷阱显示出多种野生动物的存在,观察到长尾猴(Chlorocebuspygerythrus)直接处理和食用蝙蝠丢弃的水果。
结论:因为我们观察到动物与蝙蝠丢弃的水果的多种相互作用,特别是长尾猴,通过这种间接途径存在疾病溢出风险的可能性。飞行距离可达97公里,然而,E.helvum在坦桑尼亚保护区和城市建成区的植物种子传播中的作用可能更为重要,特别是通过在这个人类世时代帮助连接日益分散的景观。
BACKGROUND: Many ecologically important plants are pollinated or have their seeds dispersed by fruit bats, including the widely distributed African straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum). Their ability to fly long distances makes them essential for connecting plant populations across fragmented landscapes. While bats have been implicated as a reservoir of infectious diseases, their role in disease transmission to humans is not well understood. In this pilot study, we tracked E. helvum to shed light on their movement patterns in Tanzania and possible contact with other species.
METHODS: Tracking devices were deployed on 25 bats captured in the Morogoro Municipal and Kilombero District area near the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. Nightly flight patterns, areas corresponding to foraging bouts and feeding roosts, and new day roosts were determined from bat movement data and characterized according to their proximity to urban built-up and protected areas. Sites for additional environmental surveillance using camera traps were identified via tracking data to determine species coming in contact with fruits discarded by bats.
RESULTS: Tracking data revealed variability between individual bat movements and a fidelity to foraging areas. Bats were tracked from one to six nights, with a mean cumulative nightly flight distance of 26.14 km (min: 0.33, max: 97.57) based on data from high-resolution GPS tags. While the majority of their foraging locations were in or near urban areas, bats also foraged in protected areas, of which the Udzungwa Mountains National Park was the most frequented. Camera traps in fruit orchards frequented by tracked bats showed the presence of multiple species of wildlife, with vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) observed as directly handling and eating fruit discarded by bats.
CONCLUSIONS: Because we observed multiple interactions of animals with fruits discarded by bats, specifically with vervet monkeys, the possibility of disease spillover risk exists via this indirect pathway. With flight distances of up to 97 km, however, the role of E. helvum in the seed dispersal of plants across both protected and urban built-up areas in Tanzania may be even more important, especially by helping connect increasingly fragmented landscapes during this Anthropocene epoch.