Chiroptera population as bioindicators of urbanization and fragmented habitat in West Java

Abstract

One of the threats to the natural ecosystem is urbanization. The deforestation and development of settlements have caused fragmented natural habitat, vegetation cover reduction, and decline of biodiversity. In urban, one of the mammalian groups that can adapt to the presence of settlement is the Chiroptera group or commonly known as bats. One of the areas that have experienced rapid urbanization was located in West Java. Considering this condition, this study aims to study the impact of urbanization and the potential use of Chiroptera as an urbanization bioindicator. The method used was line transect across the landscape mosaic located in 2 urbanized areas in West Java, i.e., Bekasi and Depok. There was 3 line transects in each area. Three locations were selected from each transect and sampled with 3 replications. The density of Chiroptera and the percentage of vegetation covers were observed along transects. In total, there were 18 observations. The study confirms the presence of fragmented landscape with vegetation cover mean ranged from 39.8%/100 m2 (95% CI: 20.4% to 59.2%). to 65.3%/100 m2 (95% CI: 52.5% to 78.1%). While the density of Chiroptera mean ranges were 2.18 inds. /100 m2 (95% CI: 1.44 to 2.92)-2.85 inds./100 m2 (95% CI: 0.98 to 4.72). There was a significant positive correlation (p = 0.004, r= 0.630) between vegetation cover and Chiroptera abundance. Based on the correlation, the less fragmented landscape was indicated by high Chiroptera abundance.