Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33570665›Full record

ArticleJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology2021

Body mass explains digestive traits in small vespertilionid bats.

Iván Cabrera-Campos, Jorge D Carballo-Morales, Romeo A Saldaña-Vázquez, Federico Villalobos, Jorge Ayala-Berdon

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Linking digestive efficiency and climate to basal metabolic rate in bats of the family vespertilionidae.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Iván Cabrera-CamposMaestría en Ciencias Biológicas, Centro Tlaxcala de Biología de la Conducta, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Carretera Tlaxcala-Puebla Km. 1.5, C.P. 90062, Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
Jorge D Carballo-MoralesLaboratorio de Sistemática, Genética y Evolución (LabSGE), Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Romeo A Saldaña-VázquezInstituto de Investigaciones en Medio Ambiente, Xabier Gorostiaga S.J. Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, Blvrd. del Niño Poblano 2901, Reserva Territorial Atlixcáyotl, C.P. 72810, San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, Mexico.
Federico VillalobosLaboratorio de Sistemática, Genética y Evolución (LabSGE), Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica.
Jorge Ayala-BerdonCONACYT, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Carretera Tlaxcala-Puebla Km. 1.5, C.P. 90062, Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl, Tlaxcala, Mexico. jorgeayalaberdon@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2344-1565

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Bats are unique among mammals in that they have evolved the capacity to fly. This has generated strong selective pressure on the morphology and function of their digestive system. Given that in bats intestinal length and nominal surface-area are proportional to body mass, this trait importantly relates to explaining some of their digestive characteristics. We described the relationship between digestive traits and body mass of four species of bats of the family Vespertilionidae living in a montane ecosystem in central Mexico. We calculated food transit time, apparent dry matter digestibility, and defecation rate in feeding trials under captive conditions. We also: (1) built a model of the relationship between digestive traits and body mass to determine if this association was consistent within the members of the family Vespertilionidae, and (2) mapped these traits along the phylogeny to explore how digestive characteristics may have evolved. In our feeding trials, body mass was positively related to transit time and negatively related to apparent dry matter digestibility. The model predicted accurately the transit time in bats with body mass < 20 g. The phylogenetic approach suggested that over the evolutionary history of the family, transit time decreased as digestibility increased. Because of the results obtained here, it is likely that for most bats of the family Vespertilionidae, adaptations in digestive traits to process food have followed evolutionary changes in their body mass. We discuss these findings in a physiological and ecological context.

Indexed as

ChiropteraAnimalsDigestionEcosystemMammalsPhylogenyBatsBody massDigestionEvolutionary approachVespertilionidae

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.