@Article{Delaval_etal2005,
author="Delaval, M.
and Henry, M.
and Charles-Dominique, P.",
title="Interspecific competition and niche partitioning: Example of a neotropical rainforest bat community",
journal="Revue d{\textquoteright}Ecologie (La Terre et la Vie)",
year="2005",
publisher="SOC NATL PROTECTION NATURE ACCLIMATATION FRANCE",
volume="60",
number="2",
pages="149--165",
abstract="To understand the organization of a bat community and the coexistence of sympatric species, it is essential to understand how species use and share common resources. First, we describe a bat community in a primary rainforest of French Guiana. The presence of particular roosting sites, such as caves, and the absence of disturbances are important local factors in structuring communities. In the course of this study, we focused on the three most common species of three vegetarian bat guilds (understorey frugivores, canopy frugivores and nectarivores). The local coexistence of these species is possible thanks to space, food and/or time partitioning. Space partitioning is consistent with the hypothesis that smaller bats with a more manoeuvrable flight tend to occupy more cluttered space less attractive to their competitors and have smaller home range. We observed a time partitioning that is likely to reduce competition among some frugivorous bat species by reducing direct interference during foraging. Besides an interest for the field community ecology, this study of a community living in a primary forest can be used as a reference for non disturbed habitat for conservation purposes.",
optnote="ISI:000230973300005",
optnote="exported from refbase (http://php.ecofog.gf/refbase/show.php?record=231), last updated on Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:56:12 -0300",
issn="0249-7395"
}