Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in urban–rural interfaces: community structure associated with pathogen screening in São Paulo—the largest metropolitan region in Brazil

Abstract

Little is known about the influence of the urban environments on bat species ‘ecology. The urbanization process potentially lead to critical ecological changes in bat communities’ intra and interspecific pathogenic transmissions dynamics. To date, the monitoring of pathogens in bats in Brazil has only been done with bats found dead or alive in households, from rabies surveillance systems. The present work aimed to investigate how urbanization influenced bat richness, relative abundance and pathogen occurrence. Most captured bats were Phyllostomidae, especially Sturnira lilium , Artibeus lituratus , A. fimbriatus , Glossophaga soricina , and Platyrrhinus lineatus , among others. From preserved-rural towards urban areas the lesser the bat richness, the higher the relative abundance of the captured bats. Noise level, luminosity and relative humidity correlated with bat abundance. The proportion of genders, sexually active bats and their size (weight, right forearm length, and body condition index) were stable throughout the investigation. Still, the proportion of pregnant females was higher in Spring and the number of juveniles in Summer, evidencing the seasonality of reproduction. Several Enterobacteria were isolated, evidencing a significant role of bats in the circulation of pathogens of medical and veterinary interest. These results are crucial in the pursuit of a harmonious coexistence between humans, bats and domestic animals in areas with different levels of anthropization.

Cultivable Gut Microbiota in Synanthropic Bats: Shifts of Its Composition and Diversity Associated with Hibernation

“…Urbanization has significantly contributed to the changing ecology of bats, as the expansion of urban and agricultural infrastructure forces bats to syntropy as their natural sites for roosting are shrinking [14,15]. As a result, a lot of bat colonies are often found in households as there are few places in cities where bats can safely roost and hibernate [15][16][17]. Knowing that, during winter, bats are in direct or indirect contact with humans and domestic animals and that hibernation could alter the microbiota composition and diversity, it is important to study the bat microbiota during their life cycle to predict possible interspecies transmissions of microbes.…”