BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM


demonstrated a vertical stratification of flight activity in tropical bat
species, with most canopy frugivores preferring upper levels of the
forest. On BCI V. pusilla, A. phaeotis, C. villosum, V. caraccioloi, and
A. lituratus were captured with significantly greater frequency in the
nets and traps set above 3 m (Table 6). V. helleri and C. trinitatum also
were captured most frequently in subcanopy and canopy levels, but
samples sizes for these species are small, and frequency differences are
not statistically significant. A. jamaicensis is the only species of the
guild to show a significant preference for activity at the groundstory
level, yet 42 percent of the captures of this species too were in the
upper levels of the forest. Though most of its food items grow in the
upper levels of the forest, A. jamaicensis may fly close to the ground to
avoid predators, or because it is more efficient for a large bat to fly
along cleared trails than to echolocate and avoid the dense vegetation
above. At any rate this behavior seems an artifact of human manage-
ment of the forest.
 HABITAT SELECTION.-Comparison of netting samples from the
young open forest of Buena Vista and the mature closed canopy forest
and creek habitats is presented in Fig. 4. As a group fig specialists are
much more common in closed forest and creeks lined by closed forest
than in shrubby open forest where few mature trees of their preferred
food species are found. A. phaeotis and A. jamaicensis are common to
very abundant in all three habitats, as would be expected from their
generalized food requirements. Except for A. jamaicensis, none of the
fig specialists are common on Buena Vista Peninsula.
 FEEDING BEHAVIOR.-Canopy frugivores usually carry fruits by
mouth from fruiting trees to night roosts (Goodwin and Greenhall
1961, Morrison 1978). On BCI Morrison found that the night roosts of

TABLE 6.-VERTICAL STRATIFICATION OF CANOPY FRUGIVORES. STATISTICAL
 SIGNIFICANCE INDICATES PREFERENCE FOR ONE OF THE Two VERTICAL
 STRATA. YATES CORRECTION FOR CONTINUITY Is USED FOR ALL TESTS OF
 SAMPLES WITH N < 200 (Sokal and Rohlf 1969).
 No. of bats captured at No. of bats captured at
Bat species ground level, 0 to 3 m subcanopy levels, 3 to 12 m
V. pusilla 5 25**
C. trinitatum 2 4
A. phaeotis 36 56*
V. helleri 3 6
C. villosum 4 24**
V. caraccioloi 4 30**
A. jamaicensis 467** 326
A. lituratus 23 66**
*Significant by Chi Square Test (P < .05)
**Highly significant by Chi Square Test (P < .01)


372


Vol. 24, No. 4