Seed Dispersal by Bats in the Neotropics By Tatyana L. Lobova, Cullen Geiselman, and Scott A. Mori

As agents of seed dispersal and pollination, bats play an important part in maintaining plant diversity in the New World tropics. Seed Dispersal by Bats in the Neotropics summarizes the authors’ intensive field studies of this phenomenon. For more than five years, their survey of bat–plant interactions took the authors to some of the most pristine (“old-growth”) rain forests in the world as well as those that have been disturbed (“secondary forests”), all within central French Guiana. The authors’ findings support those of other bat biologists: that secondary forests harbor fewer species of bats than are found in old-growth forests. This general trend in tropical forests holds true no matter what groups of organisms are being considered (bats, birds, insects, trees, etc.) and emphasizes the need to conserve old-growth forests in order to protect the greatest number of species. On one level this book serves as a guide for identifying the seeds of bat-dispersed plants; on another level it summarizes the state of our knowledge of those plants and the diets and behaviors of fruit-eating bats. This book is an excellent reference for anyone interested in conservation, plant–animal interactions, systematics, or tropical forests. Preeminent bat biologist Dr. Theodore Fleming remarked on the overall excellence in scholarship that the book represents then noted that he was “particularly impressed with the attention to detail that this group of botanists has paid to bat taxonomy and biology.” Dr. Fleming believes the book “is clearly a landmark study and will be a major reference work.”

About the Authors

Tatyana L. Lobova, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Biology at Old Dominion University, Virginia. Her research focuses on the evolution of fruits and seeds of flowering plants, dispersal biology, and ecology and conservation of tropical forests.

Cullen Geiselman is a Ph.D. candidate in the joint Columbia University–New York Botanical Garden program. She specializes in nectar-feeding bats and the plants they pollinate.

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