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SummaryThe litter ant fauna was sampled by Winkler sacks and pitfall traps along transects running through Atlantic rain forest into an adjacent grassland. Transects ran 65 m into the forest and 45 m into the field. Ninety-seven species of ants were sampled and scored, 85 were found in the forest, 48 were found in the field and 36 were common to both habitats. There was some evidence that species richness was lowest in the field and high at the deepest point within the forest. The composition of the ant community at the different distances into the forest and field was analysed by a number of hierarchical clustering procedures and also by ordinating the data in three-dimensional space. A two-way table of the ant assemblages derived from the clustering procedure versus the groupings of transect distances obtained by the same procedure indicated that certain ant species had preferences for the field or particular distances into the forest. It is concluded that although the ant fauna of Atlantic rain forest is severely affected by clearing, a forest-like ant fauna is able to persist right up to the interior edge of the forest.

We tested the airframes of a community of microbats in terms of flight performance, stability and control, and present the first systematic classification of bat flight manoeuvres. The tail, ears and main-wing all contributed to these airframe functions. In combination, six airframe ratios (aspect ratio, wing loading, tail area ratio, ear area ratio, tail length ratio and ear length ratio) provided robust predictions of species’ foraging microhabitats and foraging strategies (including agility and speed).

A small community of obligate insectivorous microchiropterans in the Perup forest reserve of southwestern Australia was sampled to determine species flight morphologies, diets and echolocation call designs. The aspect ratio:wing loading relationships of the seven species analysed indicate a loose clustering of species into closed, edge and open microhabitats with substantial interspecific overlap. Non-parametric correlations of the bats' aspect ratios and wing loadings with their echolocation call characteristics support these foraging zone classifications. Diet analyses indicate that this community of bats forages on a wide variety of insects, although certain preferences for Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera were noted. We use these results and observations of the same species from other sites to propose a microhabitat separation for the bats of the Perup forest.