Jannis Kuhn

Tropical rainforests are among the most speciose biomes on Earth. However, rapid changes in land use have left only a fraction of primary forest intact, highlighting the importance of understanding the recovery potential of secondary forests and their associated species communities. Despite increasing research, the extent to which specific taxonomic communities can recover during progressive forest succession remains unclear. Bats, with their exceptional functional diversity and provision of numerous ecosystem services, play a critical role in maintaining ecosystem functionality, making them an ideal system for studying responses to human disturbances. In the Neotropics, bats are the primary seed dispersers of numerous pioneer plants that dominate early forest succession. Opportunistic species feeding on pioneer plants dominate early succession stages. The resulting vegetation provides conditions required for later stages as well as canopy and subcanopy foragers. This process harbours the potential to restore habitats suitable for species depending on mature forest, including dietary specialists. Despite the undisputed importance of bats in their role as seed dispersers the diet of many bat species remains unknown but is important for understanding the role of individual species in natural reforestation through effective seed dispersal.

In the course of my master's thesis, I will investigate the reassembly potential of frugivorous bat communities over the successional progression of secondary forest stands ranging from 0 to >120 years post-abandonment within the Barro Colorado Nature Monument (BCNM) in central Panama including their contribution to seed dispersal. In addition, I will begin establishing a comprehensive food catalogue for frugivorous bats of the same distribution range.