Foraging behaviour and energetics of a nectar-feeding bat, Leptonycteris curasoae (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

We studied the foraging behaviour and energetics of the nectar-feeding bat, Leptonycteris curasoae (=L. sanborni), in the Sonoran Desert near Bahia Kino, Sonora, Mexico, using radio-telemetry, light-tagging, and focal plant observations to answer three questions: (1) How far do these bats fly in a night and at what energetic cost? (2) How do they harvest nectar and pollen from columnar cacti that offer large but temporally variable nectar rewards? (3) What are the implications of their foraging behaviour for gene flow within populations of their food plants? L. curasoae visited flowers of three species of columnar cacti in April through June. Many bats roosted on Isla Tiburon 20 km from the Mexican mainland and commuted about 30 km to the mainland to feed. Bats flew for about 5 h each night for a total distance of about 100 km. Individuals foraged alone or in small groups in overlapping areas of 1-3 km2; and visited the same feeding areas on successive nights. Within feeding areas, bats visited the flowers of many cactus plants, visited most flowers