The species-genus relationship in Antillean bat communities

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The ratio of the number of species to the number of genera in an island community has long been recognised as a potential proxy indicator of competitive interaction. An analysis of this relationship in the bat fauna of the Antillean archipelago demonstrates that the observed species-genus ratios are significantly depressed below nullmodel expectations, and that the magnitude of this depression is inversely proportional to the log of the appropriate island area. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that interspecific competition may play an important role in structuring Antillean bat communities.