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Seed and Pollen Dispersal by Small Pteropodid Bats in Lowland Forests of Terengganu, 83
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Seed and Pollen Dispersal by Small Pteropodid Bats in Lowland Forests of Terengganu,
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia

We collected faecal samples from only five bat species except for B. seimundi.
Only three species recorded the presence of seeds in their faeces, while samples
from M. sobrinus and P. lucasi recorded no seeds. For P. lucasi, although reported
as a frugivorous bat, no seed was found probably because we collected only a
single sample. M. sobrinus on the other hand, is a specialised nectarivorous bat
thus forages more on flowering trees for nectar than fruits on fruiting trees
(Stewart et al., 2014). This species was reported to feed on nectar and collecting
pollen grains on their bodies while foraging at the flowers, and was touted as an
essential pollinating agent for many economically important chiropterophilous
plants (Stewart & Dudash, 2017).

Although we could not confirm the species of seeds collected, we anticipate that
seeds were of fig trees. Fig fruits (Family Moraceae) are one of the main tropical
plant species whose fruit is consumed and the seeds dispersed by various
fruit bats species (Hodgkinson et al., 2001; Shanahan et al., 2001; Aziz et al.,
2021). Furthermore, in lowland forests of Peninsular Malaysia, hodgkison (2001)
reported that the fruits eaten by the pteropodid bats were mainly from the family
Moraceae, Elaeocarpaceae, and Sapotaceae. Shanahan et al. (2001) demonstrated
that fruits of Ficus species are an essential source of nutrients for the frugivores
throughout the tropics. By consuming many fruits, these frugivores such as the
pteropodid bats are very important seed dispersal agents for many plants taxa in
the region (Corlett, 1998; Muscarella & Fleming, 2007).

Seed ingestion by bats will lead to the seeds being defecated while in flight
(Muscarella & Fleming, 2007) thus allowing the seeds to settle and germinate
along with the forest gaps (Fleming & Heithaus, 1981), leading to forest
regeneration. The passing of seeds through the bat’s digestive tract allows the seed
to be treated in the gut (scarification process) and the fertilisation of seeds by
faecal materials further affecting the germination of the seeds (Traveset & Verdú,
2002; Robertson et al., 2006). Such a process proves that seed viability improved
in which digested seeds germinated faster than the undigested seeds. Kalko et al.
(1996) and Hodgkison et al. (2003) however concluded that seed ingestion by bats
did not improve the germination success of the seeds. In our study, attempts to
germinate the ingested seeds after extractions from the faecal samples following
the procedure by Hodgkison et al., (2003) were also conducted but to no avail.

Bats from the genus Cynopterus are mainly frugivorous, with fruit often reported
as the most common component of their diet (Tan et al., 1998; Bumrungsri et al.,
2007; Raghuram et al., 2011). C. brachyotis was found tofeed upon the fruits
of approximately 54 plant species in Peninsular Malaysia (Phua & Corlett, 1989;
Tan et al., 1998; Tan et al., 2000) and at least 24 plant species in Sarawak, East
Malaysia (Mohd-Azlan et al., 2010). In comparison, the study on the diet