The phyllostomid bat (Mammalia, Chiroptera) assemblage in a fragmented landscape in Midwestern Brazil

Anderson Odon,Marcelo O Bordignon,Guilherme D P Dornelles

doi:10.1590/1678-4766e2019015

Anderson Odon, Marcelo O Bordignon + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4766e2019015

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Bats are the second largest order of mammals, with varying feeding habits and great ecological significance. Anthropization has several important effects on animal communities and the Brazilian Cerrado, a Neotropical savannah, has been severely affected by human activity. The objective of this study was to evaluate phyllostomid bat assemblage distributions in the different landscape formations of a modified savannah. Using mist nets, we performed 36 sampling nights between 2015 and 2016. The sampling effort was 23,328 m².h and was equally distributed over three landscape formations: a large fragment, riparian forest, and small fragments. We compared capture rates, richness, diversity, similarity, and feeding guilds for the three formations. We captured 418 bats of 12 species belonging to the family Phyllostomidae. The most abundant species was Artibeus planirostris (Spix, 1823) (n = 126). We found no significant differences in capture rate or diversity between the areas, but there were differences in feeding guild representation. Frugivores species were the most abundant in the three areas. No gleaning insectivore or carnivore species were captured in the small fragments, and the large fragment contained no hematophages. The large fragment and the small fragments had the greatest similarity whereas the riparian forest and small fragments had the least similarity.

Highlights

Bats are the second largest order of mammals, with varying feeding habits and great ecological significance
Since the Brazilian Cerrado has been altered by human activity and bats are very important in natural environments, the objective of this study was to determine the distribution of the bat community in a savannah with different landscape formations such as riparian forest, a large and well-preserved forest fragment, and some small fragments in a pasture matrix
The capture rates measured in this study were as follows: riparian forest, 12.5 bats / night; large fragment, 12.4 bats / night; and small fragments, 11.6 bats / night

Summary

Introduction

Bats are the second largest order of mammals, with varying feeding habits and great ecological significance. There is a wide variety of feeding guilds among bats, including frugivores, pollinivores/nectarivores, carnivores, omnivores, insectivores, piscivores, and hematophages (Norberg & Rayner, 1987). This great feeding diversity enables bats to participate in many ecological roles such as seed dispersal and natural insect control, they are very important in natural environments (Reis et al, 2013). Human activity has reduced the Brazilian Cerrado, a Neotropical savannah, to 20% of its original cover prior to human intervention (Myers et al, 2000), with its natural formation altered by agriculture (Cavalcanti & Joly, 2002). It is a region with high levels of biodiversity and endemism, only 6.2% is currently under protection, making it a hotspot for conservation (Myers et al, 2000)

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