Bite of the vampire

 

Bat breath gives clue to shifting Latin American environment.

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Research published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology has shown that Latin American vampire bat populations have switched blood meals from rainforest mammals to cattle, which indicates the changing of rainforest ecosystems into pasture land. The move has resulted in the expansion of vampire bat numbers.
 
The results, published by ecological physiologists, were found by analysing the stable carbon isotope ratio of exhaled CO2 from captive bats. These were fed with blood that was labelled with the stable (non-radioactive) isotope carbon-13 and then monitored for the time period between the blood meal and the appearance of labelled carbon atoms in the exhaled breath.
 
According to team member Dr. Christian Voigt: “Vampire bats used the freshly ingested blood very fast to fuel their metabolism; after less than an hour the stable carbon isotope signature of the vampires’ exhaled breath was similar to that of their latest diet.”
 
Researchers then compared this information with the breath from free-ranging bats.

Disappearing rainforest

“The potential victims of vampires in Costa Rica are either cattle or rainforest mammals such as tapirs and peccaries. These two groups of animals feed on isotopically distinct plants which are grasses in the case of cattle and herbs or shrubs in the case of rainforest mammals. Therefore, we expected that the stable carbon isotope signature in bat breath would change according to their diet,” continued Dr. Voigt.
 
Samples clearly indicated that the last blood meal was almost exclusively from cattle.
 
According to the researchers, this is not an indication that the bats prefer cattle blood, but that it is easier to find than their traditional prey. It also demonstrates - they suggest - the large impact of converting rainforest into pasture.
 

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