Abstract

Distribution and abundance of bat assemblages among different forest covers in Gorgona National Natural Park, Colombia. Bats are important for maintenance of ecological processes in tropical forests since they are among the most abundant mammals and play a crucial role in tropical succession. Due to the importance of bats to forest dynamics and to the lack of ecological information, a study was conducted to quantify the variation in species richness, abundance and occurrence of bats in forest with different levels of perturbation in Gorgona National Natural Park; accounting for imperfect detectability. Bats were captured with mist-nets in three areas that differed in their perturbation levels (2 sites per area). A total of 670 bats represent - ing 10 species and three families (Emballonuridae, Phyllostomidae y Vespertilionidae) were captured. The fru- givorous species Dermanura rosenbergi (44.1%), Carollia brevicauda (20.9%) and Artibeus lituratus (30.1%) were the most captured species, and 6 out of 10 were insectivorous. Detection probability (p) increased with the increase in perturbation level (p perturbed >p secondary >p primary ), and was highest for frugivorous bats. The best model for occurrence (Ψ) revealed that probabilities of occurrence increased with perturbation levels (Ψ perturbe d >Ψ secondary >Ψ primary ) and differed among species. Substantial differences in abundance were due to an additive effect of perturbation level, body size, and guild. Abundance increased with perturbation level (N perturbed >N seco ndary >N primary ), decreased with body size, and was highest for frugivorous bats. Bats had higher occurrence and abundance values in most disturbed areas, but they also occurred in less disturbed areas. Consequently, bats can potentially eat fruits from different stages of succession, promoting seed movement among zones that are suit- able for colonization. Bats should be considered a conservation target for Gorgona. Rev. Biol. Trop. 62 (Suppl. 1): 419-434. Epub 2014 February 01.

Highlights

  • El conocimiento de las causas y consecuencias de la variaciones en distribución y abundancia de organismos es crucial para la conservación de la diversidad biológica

  • Por lo tanto la evaluación de los efectos de la perturbación sobre la composición y abundancia de las comunidades biológicas provee información importante para las decisiones de conservación y las acciones de manejo (Lim & Engstrom, 2001; Patterson, Willig & Stevens, 2003), particularmente en áreas naturales protegidas

  • Las tres especies con mayor número de capturas fueron Dermanura ronsebergi (Thomas, 1897) con 196 individuos (44.1% de las capturas), Artibeus lituratus (Olfers, 1818) con 134 individuos (30.2%) y Carollia brevicauda (Schinz, 1821) con 93 individuos (20.9%)

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Summary

MATERIALES Y MÉTODOS

Área de Estudio: El Parque Nacional Natural Gorgona (PNN Gorgona) es un área protegida que se localiza en el Océano Pacífico al suroccidente colombiano e incluye territorio insular y marino. Al grado de perturbación de la siguiente forma (Acevedo et al, 2004; Cuevas-Correa, 2007): (a) Bosque primario (Zona noroccidental que no ha sido intervenida debido principalmente a su difícil acceso); (b) Bosque secundario (Zona en regeneración natural que se ha recuperado después de la declaratoria como zona natural protegida) y (c) Bosque intervenido (Zona alrededor del poblado que incluye los senderos para el turismo en el borde suroriental de la isla). Consecuentemente, para determinar la distribución y abundancia de murciélagos, se seleccionaron dos unidades de muestreo en cada tipo de cobertura: Bosque primario: 1) Sendero hacia el Cerro Trinidad y 2) Sendero hacia el Mirador; Bosque secundario: 1) Sendero Playa Palmeras-Piedra Redonda y 2) Sendero Yundigua, y Zona intervenida: 1) Poblado y alrededores y 2) Sendero hacia la Azufrada (Fig. 1). En cada noche se muestreó una unidad de muestreo empleando 10 redes de niebla, de 12m de longitud ubicadas sobre transectos de 300-500m; las cuales se revisaron

PNN Gorgona Océano Pací co
Bosque primario
Findings
Peso AIC
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