Abstract
Functional diversity is the variability in the functional roles carried out by species within ecosystems. Changes in the environment can affect this component of biodiversity and can, in turn, affect different processes, including some ecosystem services. This study aimed to determine the effect of forest loss on species richness, abundance and functional diversity of Neotropical bats. To this end, we identified six landscapes with increasing loss of forest cover in the Huasteca region of the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. We captured bats in each landscape using mist nets, and calculated functional diversity indices (functional richness and functional evenness) along with species richness and abundance. We analyzed these measures in terms of percent forest cover. We captured 906 bats (Phyllostomidae and Mormoopidae), including 10 genera and 12 species. Species richness, abundance and functional richness per night are positively related with forest cover. Generalized linear models show that species richness, abundance and functional richness per night are significantly related with forest cover, while seasonality had an effect on abundance and functional richness. Neither forest cover nor season had a significant effect on functional evenness. All these findings were consistent across three spatial scales (1, 3 and 5 km radius around sampling sites). The decrease in species, abundance and functional richness of bats with forest loss may have implications for the ecological processes they carry out such as seed dispersal, pollination and insect predation, among others.
Highlights
Species richness is one of the most widely used measures of biodiversity [1,2]
We focused in The Huasteca region in northeastern Mexico, which is an area of great biological interest because it is home to a large diversity of plants and animals that are of notable ecological and evolutionary value, and it is the largest expanse of evergreen rainforest remnants in the northern edge of the Neotropics [27]
We identified three land cover types: forest cover, farming lands and urban areas
Summary
Species richness is one of the most widely used measures of biodiversity [1,2]. It is a property of ecological communities that can be used to diagnose the impact of habitat modification and to suggest priorities for conservation. This measure assumes that all species contribute to ecosystem functioning in a similar way, providing an incomplete and limited perspective of the complexity of biodiversity [3]. Bat Functional Diversity and Deforestation role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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