BIOTROPICA 39(1): 136–140 2007 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00236.x Attraction of Fruit-Eating Bats with Essential Oils of Fruits: A Potential Tool for Forest Restoration Gledson V. Bianconi 1,5 , Sandra B. Mikich 2 , Sirlei D. Teixeira 3,4 , and Beatriz Helena L.N.S. Maia 3 1 Programa de P´ os-graduac ¸˜ ao em Ci ˆ encias Biol ´ ogicas – Zoologia, UNESP, C.P. 199, 13506-900 Rio Claro, SP, Brazil 2 Laborat ´ orio de Ecologia, Embrapa Florestas, C.P. 319, 83411-970 Colombo, PR, Brazil 3 Departamento de Qu´ ımica, UFPR, C.P. 19081, 81531-990 Curitiba, PR, Brazil 4 UNICS, C.P. 221, 85555-000 Palmas, PR, Brazil ABSTRACT Previous tests with essential oils from ripe chiropterochoric fruits suggested they can be used to attract and capture fruit-eating bats inside forest remnants. Here we evaluated the efﬁciency of these oils to attract frugivorous bats to open areas. We performed ﬁeld tests with artiﬁcial fruits impregnated with essential oils of the genera Piper or Ficus that were attached to two groups of mist-nets set 50 m outside the border of a forest remnant. One group of artiﬁcial fruits received the corresponding oil isolated through hydrodistillation and the other received water only. Fruits with oils attracted signiﬁcantly more fruit-eating bats, especially Artibeus lituratus that regularly crosses open habitats to reach other forest remnants. The highly signiﬁcant attraction of A. lituratus by the oil of Piper was unexpected, since this bat is a specialist on Ficus fruits. We hypothesize that in habitats with no fruit available it is possible to attract frugivorous bats with the odor of several ripe fruit species. Furthermore, we veriﬁed that almost half of the individuals captured defecated seeds, indicating that the oils also attract recently fed bats, even when their preferred food is available nearby. This technique potentially may increase seed rain at speciﬁc locations, being particularly promising to restoration projects. RESUMO Estudos anteriores realizados com ´ oleos essenciais extra´ ıdos de frutos quiropteroc´ oricos maduros sugerem que estes podem ser utilizados para atrair e capturar morcegos frug´ ıvoros no interior de remanescentes ﬂorestais. No presente trabalho n´ os avaliamos a eﬁciˆ encia destes ´ oleos na atrac ¸˜ ao de morcegos frug´ ıvoros para ´ areas abertas por meio de testes com dois grupos de redes-de-neblina instaladas a 50 m de distˆ ancia de um fragmento ﬂorestal. Todas as redes receberam um fruto artiﬁcial (gˆ eneros Piper ou Ficus) em sua porc ¸˜ ao mediana, mas apenas um dos grupos recebeu o ´ oleo correspondente isolado por hidrodestilac ¸˜ ao; o outro recebeu somente ´ agua destilada. Os frutos com ´ oleo atra´ ıram signiﬁcativamente mais morcegos frug´ ıvoros, especialmente Artibeus lituratus. A atrac ¸˜ ao altamente signiﬁcativa desta esp´ ecie pelo ´ oleo de Piper foi inesperada, considerando que este morcego ´ e especialista em frutos de Ficus. Conseq¨ uentemente, n´ os sugerimos que em h´ abitats com nenhum fruto dispon´ ıvel ´ e poss´ ıvel atrair morcegos frug´ ıvoros com o odor de diversas esp´ ecies de frutos maduros. Al´ em disso, quase a metade dos morcegos capturados defecou sementes, indicando que os ´ oleos tamb´ em atraem indiv´ ıduos que se alimentaram recentemente, at´ e mesmo quando seu alimento preferencial encontra-se dispon´ ıvel nas proximidades. Esta t´ ecnica tem o potencial de incrementar a chuva de sementes em locais espec´ ıﬁcos, sendo particularmente promissora para projetos de restaurac ¸˜ ao ﬂorestal. Key words: Atlantic forest; conservation biology; Ficus; forest regeneration; frugivory; fruit bats; Phyllostomidae; Piper; restoration ecology; seed dispersal. FRUIT CONSUMPTION AND SEED DISPERSAL THROUGH BAT FECES are fundamental for the reproductive success of the consumed plants, the maintenance of forests, and the recovery of degraded areas (Fleming & Sosa 1994, Garcia et al. 2000). Through seed dis- persal bats inﬂuence the structure of the vegetation of the plant species they consume and disperse (Fleming & Heithaus 1981). Such service is favored by the rapid passage of seeds through the gut of frugivorous bats (approximately 30 min for some species) (Fleming 1988), as well as the large distances that bats often travel, visiting different habitats and sites in a single night (e.g., Fleming 1988, Estrada & Coates-Estrada 2002, Bernard & Fenton 2003). In the Neotropical region fruit-eating bats belong to the Family Phyllostomidae, which has 160 species (Simmons 2005) with high capacity of environmental perception. The importance of odor in Received 8 July 2005; revision accepted 5 February 2006. 5 Current address: M¨ ulleriana: Soc. Fritz M¨ uller de Ciˆ encias Naturais. Caixa Postal 19093, 81531-980, Curitiba, Paran´ a, Brazil. Corresponding author; e-mail: bianconi@terra.com.br the location of food resources by phyllostomid bats has been cited in the literature since the middle of the twentieth century (e.g., Mann 1951, van der Pijl 1957, Fleming 1988). Some authors (Rieger & Jacob 1988, Thies et al. 1998, Mikich et al. 2003, Korine & Kalko 2005) have shown that olfaction was the primary sense em- ployed by some species to detect and/or locate ripe fruits. In ad- dition, Mikich et al. (2003) veriﬁed that it was possible to attract Carollia perspicillata (short-tailed fruit bat) using just the essen- tial oil isolated from ripe fruits of Piper gaudichaudianum Kunth (Piperaceae). The fruit-eating bats of the genera Artibeus, Carollia and Sturnira exhibit a strong preference for a restricted group of chi- ropterochoric fruits. According to previous studies (e.g., Bonac- corso 1979, Fleming 1985, Palmerim et al. 1989, Handley et al. 1991, Kalko et al. 1996, Iudica & Bonaccorso 1997, Wendeln et al. 2000), Artibeus lituratus (great fruit-eating bat) prefers fruits of Ficus spp., while Carollia perspicillata prefers those of Piper spp., and Sturnira lilium (little yellow-shouldered bat) those of Solanum 136 C  2006 The Author(s) Journal compilation C  2006 by The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation