{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/150199"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/150199","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Niche Occupancy, Partitioning, and the Role of Trophic Flexibility in Coexistence of Neotropical Bats","abstract":"Understanding niche occupancy of an organism is critical to understanding its role in the environment, and how it persists as compared to others. In animal studies, the trophic niche is often used as a simplification of the Hutchinsonian realized niche. Trophic flexibility is a common strategy throughout the natural world to cope with various ecological and physiological challenges. Animals face fluctuations in resource availability, both inter- and intraspecific competition, and periods when nutrition is critical to meet metabolic demand. Bats, typically grouped together within trophic guilds, exhibit an exceptional amount of trophic flexibility and omnivory across faunas, particularly phytophagous species. The goal of my dissertation is to understand how ecological forces shape niche occupancy among diverse communities of bats, and to better understand how trophic flexibility enables niche occupancy, partitioning, and coexistence among these animals. I examined trophic flexibility through an ecological lens using stable isotope analysis. I examined individual specialization within populations, population-level responses to seasonal change, and community-level responses to species richness across sites. I found that individuals with preferences for food items or foraging locations are consistently preserved in isotopic values of their tissues over multiple time points, and this is widespread among Neotropical species. Seasonal comparisons revealed that trophic flexibility enables niche partitioning within season, as well as across seasons as more omnivorous species experience niche expansion, and population overlap decreases substantially from one season to another. More speciose communities demonstrated greater niche packing, while we found limited evidence to suggest that community niche space increases, populations of some species may increase niche breadth when more heterospecifics are present. I also examined how dietary protein impacts the metabolically intensive process of wound healing in the Jamaican fruit bat in an experimental study where I caused mechanical injuries to the flight membranes of captive individuals. Though there was no significant effect of a protein enriched diet on the rate of healing, there was indication that the group fed the experimental diet had improved healing outcomes than those fed a control diet. Trophic flexibility plays a key role in maintaining coexistence among bats.","abstract_html":"Understanding niche occupancy of an organism is critical to understanding its role in the environment, and how it persists as compared to others. In animal studies, the trophic niche is often used as a simplification of the Hutchinsonian realized niche. Trophic flexibility is a common strategy throughout the natural world to cope with various ecological and physiological challenges. Animals face fluctuations in resource availability, both inter- and intraspecific competition, and periods when nutrition is critical to meet metabolic demand. Bats, typically grouped together within trophic guilds, exhibit an exceptional amount of trophic flexibility and omnivory across faunas, particularly phytophagous species. The goal of my dissertation is to understand how ecological forces shape niche occupancy among diverse communities of bats, and to better understand how trophic flexibility enables niche occupancy, partitioning, and coexistence among these animals. I examined trophic flexibility through an ecological lens using stable isotope analysis. I examined individual specialization within populations, population-level responses to seasonal change, and community-level responses to species richness across sites. I found that individuals with preferences for food items or foraging locations are consistently preserved in isotopic values of their tissues over multiple time points, and this is widespread among Neotropical species. Seasonal comparisons revealed that trophic flexibility enables niche partitioning within season, as well as across seasons as more omnivorous species experience niche expansion, and population overlap decreases substantially from one season to another. More speciose communities demonstrated greater niche packing, while we found limited evidence to suggest that community niche space increases, populations of some species may increase niche breadth when more heterospecifics are present. I also examined how dietary protein impacts the metabolically intensive process of wound healing in the Jamaican fruit bat in an experimental study where I caused mechanical injuries to the flight membranes of captive individuals. Though there was no significant effect of a protein enriched diet on the rate of healing, there was indication that the group fed the experimental diet had improved healing outcomes than those fed a control diet. Trophic flexibility plays a key role in maintaining coexistence among bats.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Oelbaum, Phillip Jacob"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Cell and Systems Biology","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Welch, Kenneth C"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-10","date_published":"2025-10","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:22Z","subjects":["Chiroptera","Community structure","Dietary niche","Isotope ecology","Stable isotope analysis","Wound healing"],"languages":[],"rights":["Attribution 4.0 International"],"rights_urls":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1807/150199","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Welch, Kenneth C"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Cell and Systems Biology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Oelbaum, Phillip Jacob"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-10"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-11-28T17:40:33Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-10"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Chiroptera","Community structure","Dietary niche","Isotope ecology","Stable isotope analysis","Wound healing"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Attribution 4.0 International"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1807/150199"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Understanding niche occupancy of an organism is critical to understanding its role in the environment, and how it persists as compared to others. In animal studies, the trophic niche is often used as a simplification of the Hutchinsonian realized niche. Trophic flexibility is a common strategy throughout the natural world to cope with various ecological and physiological challenges. Animals face fluctuations in resource availability, both inter- and intraspecific competition, and periods when nutrition is critical to meet metabolic demand. Bats, typically grouped together within trophic guilds, exhibit an exceptional amount of trophic flexibility and omnivory across faunas, particularly phytophagous species. The goal of my dissertation is to understand how ecological forces shape niche occupancy among diverse communities of bats, and to better understand how trophic flexibility enables niche occupancy, partitioning, and coexistence among these animals. I examined trophic flexibility through an ecological lens using stable isotope analysis. I examined individual specialization within populations, population-level responses to seasonal change, and community-level responses to species richness across sites. I found that individuals with preferences for food items or foraging locations are consistently preserved in isotopic values of their tissues over multiple time points, and this is widespread among Neotropical species. Seasonal comparisons revealed that trophic flexibility enables niche partitioning within season, as well as across seasons as more omnivorous species experience niche expansion, and population overlap decreases substantially from one season to another. More speciose communities demonstrated greater niche packing, while we found limited evidence to suggest that community niche space increases, populations of some species may increase niche breadth when more heterospecifics are present. I also examined how dietary protein impacts the metabolically intensive process of wound healing in the Jamaican fruit bat in an experimental study where I caused mechanical injuries to the flight membranes of captive individuals. Though there was no significant effect of a protein enriched diet on the rate of healing, there was indication that the group fed the experimental diet had improved healing outcomes than those fed a control diet. Trophic flexibility plays a key role in maintaining coexistence among bats."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Niche Occupancy, Partitioning, and the Role of Trophic Flexibility in Coexistence of Neotropical Bats"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Welch, Kenneth C"],"dc:contributor.department":["Cell and Systems Biology"],"dc:creator":["Oelbaum, Phillip Jacob"],"dc:date":["2025-10"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-11-28T17:40:33Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-10"],"dc:description.abstract":["Understanding niche occupancy of an organism is critical to understanding its role in the environment, and how it persists as compared to others. In animal studies, the trophic niche is often used as a simplification of the Hutchinsonian realized niche. Trophic flexibility is a common strategy throughout the natural world to cope with various ecological and physiological challenges. Animals face fluctuations in resource availability, both inter- and intraspecific competition, and periods when nutrition is critical to meet metabolic demand. Bats, typically grouped together within trophic guilds, exhibit an exceptional amount of trophic flexibility and omnivory across faunas, particularly phytophagous species. The goal of my dissertation is to understand how ecological forces shape niche occupancy among diverse communities of bats, and to better understand how trophic flexibility enables niche occupancy, partitioning, and coexistence among these animals. I examined trophic flexibility through an ecological lens using stable isotope analysis. I examined individual specialization within populations, population-level responses to seasonal change, and community-level responses to species richness across sites. I found that individuals with preferences for food items or foraging locations are consistently preserved in isotopic values of their tissues over multiple time points, and this is widespread among Neotropical species. Seasonal comparisons revealed that trophic flexibility enables niche partitioning within season, as well as across seasons as more omnivorous species experience niche expansion, and population overlap decreases substantially from one season to another. More speciose communities demonstrated greater niche packing, while we found limited evidence to suggest that community niche space increases, populations of some species may increase niche breadth when more heterospecifics are present. I also examined how dietary protein impacts the metabolically intensive process of wound healing in the Jamaican fruit bat in an experimental study where I caused mechanical injuries to the flight membranes of captive individuals. Though there was no significant effect of a protein enriched diet on the rate of healing, there was indication that the group fed the experimental diet had improved healing outcomes than those fed a control diet. Trophic flexibility plays a key role in maintaining coexistence among bats."],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1807/150199"],"dc:rights":["Attribution 4.0 International"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"dc:subject":["Chiroptera","Community structure","Dietary niche","Isotope ecology","Stable isotope analysis","Wound healing"],"dc:title":["Niche Occupancy, Partitioning, and the Role of Trophic Flexibility in Coexistence of Neotropical Bats"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:22Z"}