A comparison of 2 methods of diet analysis in Neotropical frugivorous bats reveals the hidden side of bat–plant interactions

Abstract Phyllostomid bats are a keystone group in the succession of Neotropical plant communities and knowledge of their diet is essential in the study of bat–plant interactions. The most used method to date has been taxonomic identification of the seeds found in bat feces, but this approach underestimates plant species with large seeds that cannot be ingested. With the aim of estimating how much our knowledge of the diet of frugivorous bats changes once we include those species of plants that are underrepresented, we determine the diet of 3 bat species using 18S rDNA V9 metabarcoding. Results were compared with those obtained from morphological identification of seeds found in feces. Using metabarcoding, we identified 20 plant species and with taxonomic identification of seeds, 10 species, with the latter being a subset of the first method. Metabarcoding made it possible to detect a greater number of interactions as well as a greater percentage of the samples were determined to species level. Fifty percent of the plant species (8 species) recorded in the diet of Sturnira hondurensis, 62% (8 species) for Carollia perspicillata, and 50% (4 species) for Artibeus lituratus were exclusively detected with metabarcoding. Plant species with fleshy fruits including Clusia lundellii, Annona cherimola, and Saurauia pedunculata were exclusively detected with metabarcoding and an important item in the diet. The incorporation of molecular biology to determine the diet of 3 species of frugivorous bats made it possible to demonstrate that their diet is more diverse than previously known. Hence, in the field of plant–bat interactions and knowledge of the natural history of species, it is important to consider this new form of analysis.