Abstract
Abstract The state of Rio Grande do Norte is considered a data gap for bat species records in Brazil. The state is also currently target of large economic projects with potential impacts on bats, especially wind farms and mining enterprises. In addition, Rio Grande do Norte has few conservation units in which there is no systematic study on bat fauna. The Nísia Floresta National Forest (NFNF), a federally protected area of 174 hectares, is located in the eastern coast of Rio Grande do Norte and corresponds to one of the last remnants of Atlantic Forest in the state, in its northernmost limits. A bat inventory was conducted in NFNF using mist nets set at ground level, from sunset to sunrise, from December 2011 to December 2012, totaling 25 sampling nights. We captured 1,379 bats belonging to four families and 16 species. Artibeus planirostris (Phyllostomidae) was the most frequently captured species (n = 685; 50%), followed by Myotis lavali (Vespertilionidae) (n = 248; 18%) and Phyllostomus discolor (Phyllostomidae) (n = 147; 11%). Peropteryx leucoptera, Phyllostomus discolor, Phyllostomus hastatus, Lophostoma brasiliense, Lasiurus blossevillii, Myotis lavali, and Promops nasutus are new records for Rio Grande do Norte, increasing the current number of bat species from 25 to 32 in this state. Further inventories, especially using acoustic surveys with bat detectors, might add more species to the NFNF bat list.
Highlights
Brazil is a mega-biodiversity country (Mittermeier et al 1997) with one of the highest species richness of bats in the world
The taxonomic identification of the specimens was confirmed as Carollia perspicillata and Myotis lavali
Our sampling was limited to one habitat type within the Nísia Floresta National Forest (NFNF), this is the first systematic inventory of bats in a protected area in the state of Rio Grande do Norte
Summary
Brazil is a mega-biodiversity country (Mittermeier et al 1997) with one of the highest species richness of bats in the world. One of the most significant data gaps about bat occurrence in Brazil corresponds to the state of Rio Grande do Norte (Bernard et al 2011), located in the northeast part of the country. Rio Grande do Norte is the state with the lowest number of localities surveyed for bats (= 12) and the lowest bat richness (= 24 species) in northeastern Brazil (Garcia et al 2014). This state has been attracting investments in large economic projects with potential impact on bats, such as wind farms and mining development
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