Published December 31, 2000
| Version v1
Journal article
Open
Foraging ecology of the black flying fox (Pteropus alecto) in the seasonal tropics of the Northern Territory, Australia
Authors/Creators
- 1. School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Northern Territory University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia; Present address: World Wide Fund for Nature, Tropical Wetlands of Oceania Program, GPO Box 1268, Darwin, NT 0801, Australia.
- 2. School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Northern Territory University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia; Bioregional Assessment Unit, Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory, PO Box 496, Palmerston, NT 0831, Australia.
- 3. School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Northern Territory University, Darwin, NT 0909, Australia; Department of Lands, Planning and Environment, GPO Box 1680, Darwin, NT 0801, Australia.
Description
Pteropus alecto uses landscape patchiness at two scales: firstly, between broad vegetation types (i.e. eucalypt open forest/savanna woodland versus rainforest vegetation); secondly, within vegetation types. Radio-collared Pteropus alecto selected foraging sites that were richer in flower or fruit resources than floristically similar sites and moved through the landscape in response to the flowering and fruiting of a number of plant species occurring in different vegetation types. Abundance of P. alecto within four monitored rainforest patches and the outside vegetation fluctuated substantially during the study. Overall, P. alecto was more abundant in the rainforests than in the surrounding vegetation. P. alecto foraged on the flowers and fruit from 23 species in 11 families.