Читать книгу Bats of Southern and Central Africa - Ara Monadjem - Страница 19

As the only mammals capable of sustained flight, bats have evolved to exploit the nocturnal aerosphere. Their adaptive radiation into a diversity of ecological and behavioural niches includes adaptations to shelter in an impressive variety of daytime roosts. The unique and rich diversity of bats is also constrained tightly by the physiological limits placed on body size by flight. These factors are represented in the behaviour, reproduction and ecology of over 1,400 living species of the order Chiroptera. Dependence on sonar for nocturnal navigation and locating prey is an equally important determinant of the natural history of these fascinating mammals (Hill and Smith 1984, Fenton and Simmons 2015). The emerging synthesis in the concepts and methods of aeroecology (Kunz et al. 2008) recognises the keystone roles of bats as the apex frugivores, pollinators and predators in the aerosphere (Chilson et al. 2017, Frick et al. 2013).