乙醇浓度对圈养长舌果蝠摄食糖水量的影响

正在自然生境中,果蝠主要以果实或者花蜜为食,成熟果实或花蜜由于微生物发酵而含一定量的乙醇。乙醇在生态系统中是一种常见物质,它是生物厌氧代谢的终端产物之一(Van Waarde,1991)。一旦果实成熟,它们中的糖分就会被微生物或者自身发酵代谢成乙醇(Battcock and Azam-Ali,1998;Dudley,2000,2004)。果实中的乙醇浓度主要是由这些以糖分为能源的发酵微生物的扩增状态来决定

Effects of ethanol on sucrose solution consumption in captive nectarivorous bats Eonycteris spelaea

Nectarivorous bats,（Eonycteris spelaea） generally choose to eat nectar or ripe fruit in which ethanol concentration increases as the fruit and nectar ripen. Ethanol concentration may act as an odor cue, guiding frugivorous bats to the fruit or flower, and aiding them in assessing its quality. We wondered whether ethanol could act as an appetitive stimulant and influenced the quantity of food consumption by captive bats. We offered food (sucrose solution) containing 7 concentrations levels of ethanol (0.005%, 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% or 1%),to captive bats  to test whether the bats’ responses were positive or negative, i.e., they ate more or less when ethanol in the food increased comparing to control (ethanol free). The results showed that E. spelaea did not change consumption of food containing 0.005% ethanol, but significantly decreased consumption at higher levels of ethanol concentration (≥0.01%), When ethanol concentration in food was at 1%, food consumption was only 34% compared to that of ethanol free. Our results indicatethat ethanol in food has a negative influence on food intake when its concentration reached 0.01%, but the reasons for this remained to be further tested.