2025/11/10 by Crasso Paulo Bosco Breviglieri · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Psychology · #Animal and Plant Science Education #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Facilitation #Invertebrate #Licking #Nectar #Plant and animal studies #Stingless bee #Trophic level
paper · doi:10.1111/eth.70034
openalex created_date 2025/11/10 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
ABSTRACT Facilitative interactions between invertebrates and vertebrates are rarely documented, especially those involving trophic mechanisms. Here, we report a novel case of facilitation between the stingless bee Trigona spinipes and the nectarivorous bat Glossophaga soricina , observed in an urban coastal area in southeastern Brazil. Bees were seen wounding pedicels of Senna macranthera trees during the day, inducing sap exudation. At night, bats visited these sap sources, licking the exudate without creating wounds themselves. This observation represents a rare case of indirect trophic facilitation involving distantly related taxa and expands our understanding of cross‐taxon interactions in urban ecological contexts.