From Trees to Home: How Tent‐Roosting Bats Disperse Large Seeds in Disturbed Rainforests

ABSTRACT Frugivorous bats play a key role in the ecology of seed dispersal and tropical forest regeneration. While research has traditionally focused on small ingested seeds, tent‐roosting bats also disperse large, undigested seeds, potentially benefiting large‐seeded forest species in disturbed areas. However, the factors influencing this dispersal remain poorly understood. At La Selva Research Station, Costa Rica, we used a hierarchical statistical framework to assess how a forest disturbance gradient (low, intermediate, high) influences host plant abundance, bat tent abundance, and large‐seed dispersal. Host plant abundance did not show a statistically significant response to disturbance. Bat tent abundance and total large‐seed dispersal showed higher point estimates in the intermediate‐disturbance zone, but the evidence for a clear effect of disturbance was weak. The total seed output in low‐ and high‐disturbance zones was only 6% and 7%, respectively, of that in the intermediate zone, although this pattern was not statistically confirmed. Seed dispersal efficiency per tent, however, did not vary across the gradient. Taken together, our results point to a possible concentration of bat tent abundance and large‐seed dispersal in intermediate‐disturbance areas, but the statistical evidence was weak and further studies are required to substantiate these patterns. Even so, the observed patterns hint that tent‐roosting bats could be previously overlooked agents that contribute to the natural regeneration of degraded tropical forests. By dispersing large seeds often characteristic of old‐growth species, their conservation might potentially enhance the recovery of forest structure and composition.