Abstract
The Pedra Branca Forest is located in a highly-urbanised region of the central portion of Rio de Janeiro City, comprises the largest urban forest on the continent and is isolated from other Atlantic Forest remnants. The local flora and fauna are protected by three conservation units (Pedra Branca State Park, Prainha Municipal Natural Park and Guaratiba State Biological Reserve) and one biological station (Fiocruz Atlantic Forest Biological Station—EFMA). Here, we provide an updated list of the bat fauna for the remnant. The results are based on samplings at EFMA and literature data from Pedra Branca State Park and Prainha Natural Park. The three sampling sites combined resulted in 31 species, 23 genera and four families. Phyllostomidae was the richest family with 24 species, followed by Vespertilionidae with five species (3%) and Molossidae and Noctilionidae with one species. The local bat fauna was predominantly composed of species with a broad geographic distribution.
Highlights
Bats provide important ecosystem services as pollinators, seed dispersers and controllers of insect populations (Kunz et al 2011)
The Pedra Branca Forest covers most of the homonym Massif and extends to the adjacent lowlands on the eastern, western and southern slopes, comprising the largest urban forest in the world (Rocha et al 2003)
Most of the remnant is preserved by conservation units, amongst which Pedra Branca State Park (PEPB) is the largest conservation unit in the City of Rio de Janeiro, encompassing all areas above 100 m of elevation
Summary
Bats provide important ecosystem services as pollinators, seed dispersers and controllers of insect populations (Kunz et al 2011). Understanding the structure of local bat faunas is essential for conservation programmes and the development of strategies in the One Health approach, in areas under high anthropogenic pressure and social vulnerabilities, such as tropical forest remnants close to large urban centres (Lu et al 2016; Beltz 2017; Kading and Kingston 2020). The Fiocruz Atlantic Forest Biological Station (EFMA) is on the eastern slope of the Massif, encompassing lowland to submontane forests and overlapping partially with PEPB, in an area of high anthropogenic pressure, whose biological diversity, including mammals, is still little known compared to other localities (e.g. Tijuca, Reserva Biológica de Guapiaçu, Costa Verde Islands) in the State of Rio de Janeiro (Esberard 2003;Bolzan et al 2010)
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