Abstract
The surge of oil palm production in the Neotropics has become a major concern about the potential impacts on biodiversity. In the Colombian Orinoquia, which has shown a massive landscape transformation due to the growth of oil palm plantations, the effects of oil palm agriculture on bats in this region have not been studied up to date. To understand the impact of habitat conversion on bat diversity, we characterised bat assemblages in secondary forest and palm plantations in the Colombian Llanos foothills (Meta, Colombia). We captured 393 individuals (forest = 81, plantation = 312) of 18 species and 3 families. The forest cover presented three exclusive species while the plantation had five. Species diversity (q1) and evenness (J′) were higher in the forest compared to the plantation. These differences derived from the increase in abundances of generalist species (Artibeus sp., Carollia spp.) in the plantation. Despite the habitat simplification caused by oil palm plantations, this monoculture provides a cover that is used by some bats, decreasing their risk of predation and allowing movement between patches of forest habitat as steppingstones. Maintaining forest cover in agricultural landscapes favours diversity by generating a “spillover effect” of the forest towards plantations, which in the case of some bats contributes to the reduction of species isolation and the maintenance of ecosystem services provided by them. It is important to improve management practices of oil palm plantations to minimise negative impacts on biodiversity, considering the expansion of this productive system and the scarcity of protected areas in this region.
Highlights
Neotropical bats present high variability in species richness, abundance, diet and morphology, which can influence ecological interactions such as pollination, seed dispersal and regulation of insect populations central to multiple ecosystemMaría Alejandra Cely-Gómez et al.services (Park 2014; Kasso & Balakrishnan 2013; Kunz et al 2011; Cleveland et al 2006)
Bats have been studied in different Neotropical ecosystems under diverse anthropogenic contexts, where the assemblages have revealed changes in species richness or abundance according to elevation (Castaño et al 2018; Bejarano-Bonilla et al 2007; McCain 2007), geographical region (MoralesMartínez et al 2018) and land use management (Montaño-Centellas et al 2015; Ortegón-Martínez & Pérez-Torres 2007)
Our study presents a scenario of oil palm expansion in a Neotropical context where bats are prone to change their assemblage, facilitating the establishment of generalist species
Summary
Neotropical bats present high variability in species richness, abundance, diet and morphology, which can influence ecological interactions such as pollination, seed dispersal and regulation of insect populations central to multiple ecosystemMaría Alejandra Cely-Gómez et al.services (Park 2014; Kasso & Balakrishnan 2013; Kunz et al 2011; Cleveland et al 2006). Colombia is the fourth largest palm oil producer in the world (Payán & Boron 2019; Boron et al 2019), and the main producer in America with about 540,687 ha cultivated in 2018 [Federación Nacional de Cultivadores de Palma de Aceite (Fedepalma) 2019], and is the country with the second richest bat fauna with 209 species (Ramírez-Chavez et al 2020). The effect of these agricultural systems on bat diversity is understudied, especially in the regions where the extent of oil palm plantations have been growing exponentially in the country. Some variables like spatial heterogeneity, vegetation complexity, proximity to forest, and the history of coverage transformation can influence the assemblages in oil palm monocultures
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