Abstract
Bats are key components of ecological networks, and studies in degraded areas are especially important to understand the impact of the human settlements on bats communities. Here, we surveyed the bat fauna in Guaribas Biological Reserve, a protected area in the Atlantic Forest in Paraiba state, northeastern Brazil, and compared it with the bat fauna that occupies the nearby villages. In the villages, we recorded 650 individuals from 14 species, while 1,127 individuals from 20 species were recorded in the Reserve. Diversity estimation pointed out 19 species for the settlements, and 22 for the Reserve. A Bray-Curtis/Sorensen similarity cluster analysis informed that the Reserve areas and the villages form two distinct groups. Additionally, a Wilcox test pointed out that both areas have significantly distinct abundances and species richnesses. Only a subset of the assemblage, mainly formed by generalist or opportunist species, occupies the villages, exploring resources that are offered by human activities.
Highlights
With the growth of environmental degradation, the efforts to comprehend and catalogue biodiversity has become urgent
The study was conducted in Reserva Biologica Guaribas (Guaribas Biological Reserve, hereafter GBR) (06°44’33.472”S, 35°08’33.011”W), a reserve located between the municipalities of Rio Tinto and Mamanguape, state of Paraiba, Brazil
The reserve has a hot and humid weather, typical of the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil, with maximum temperature around 26°C and rainfall over 1,700 mm/ year; the rain season is from February to July and dry season from October to December (Endres et al, 2007)
Summary
With the growth of environmental degradation, the efforts to comprehend and catalogue biodiversity has become urgent. The Atlantic Forest case is one of the most urgent, as it is considered a biodiversity hotspot, holding about 1‐8% of the world’s species (Myers et al, 2000; Ribeiro et al, 2009). In the past 500 years, it has been reduced to nearly 8% of its original coverage (Colombo & Joly, 2010), and the remaining forest constitute small isolated fragments surrounded by urban and rural occupations (Brito & Bocchiglieri, 2012; Stevens, 2013). Human occupations are the most impacting, resilient, and growing form of anthropogenic pressure on environment, causing rapid habitat alteration, loss, and fragmentation (Garden et al, 2006), with a modern urban pattern Jardim Universitário, s/n, Castelo Branco, CEP 58051‐900, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil
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