Abstract
Bat communities of mainland Southeast Asia can be highly diverse. Many are under threat. Despite this, regional faunal composition is not well documented for many areas, including regions of Vietnam. We assessed the biodiversity of bats in a watershed protection forest in the southeastern Truong Son (Annamite) Mountains, southwestern Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam in 2011–2013. Twenty species of insectivorous bats were documented including a high diversity of Murina species Tube-nosed Bats. Diversity and abundance indices were compared with that recorded previously in two nature reserves and one national park in Vietnam, and were higher or comparable in several measures despite the lack of a karst substrate for roosts. Reproduction in the insectivorous bat fauna coincided with the early rainy season. In the late dry season, pregnant females of several species were observed but volant juveniles were not present, whereas in the early wet season adult females were lactating or post-lactating and volant juveniles of nine species were detected. We recorded echolocation calls of 14 bat species; for each species, we compared features of calls with those reported previously in other Asian localities. For some species we found discrepancies in call metrics among studies, perhaps suggesting a greater hidden biodiversity of bats in Southeast Asia.
Highlights
Bat communities in Southeast Asia are among the most diverse in the world but are threatened by habitat loss and other factors (Kingston 2010)
The Truong Son Mountains of Vietnam and the adjacent Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) have high faunal biodiversity in general (Tordoff et al 2003), but little is known about bat diversity in this mountain range
Seasonal patterns in reproduction of tropical insectivorous bats wherein the birth and fledging of young occur during rainy seasons when primary productivity and insect abundance are high have been observed in other tropical regions (e.g., Fleming et al 1972; Bernard & Cumming 1997; Racey & Entwistle 2000), including one reserve in northern Vietnam (Furey et al 2011)
Summary
Bat communities in Southeast Asia are among the most diverse in the world but are threatened by habitat loss and other factors (Kingston 2010). Our study had three objectives: (1) to document the bat fauna of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains and to compare its diversity with that reported previously in other localities of Vietnam (Hendrichsen et al 2001; Furey et al 2010); (2) to sample characteristics of echolocation calls of a subset of the insectivorous bats of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, and to qualitatively compare their echolocation traits with those reported previously in other localities in Asia; (3) to assess the timing of reproduction in female bats in the late dry season and in the early wet season. Seasonal patterns in reproduction of tropical insectivorous bats wherein the birth and fledging of young occur during rainy seasons when primary productivity and insect abundance are high have been observed in other tropical regions (e.g., Fleming et al 1972; Bernard & Cumming 1997; Racey & Entwistle 2000), including one reserve in northern Vietnam (Furey et al 2011)
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