Life after logging: post‐logging recovery of a neotropical bat community

Abstract

1.There is considerable debate about whether tropical forests can be managed for timber production and to conserve biodiversity. Few 'sustainable forestry' systems have been evaluated adequately in this respect. Microchiropteran bats may be model taxa for this purpose. They are an important component of mammalian diversity, play key roles in forest dynamics and are indicators of disturbance in neotropical forests. 2. We investigated the effect of Trinidad's periodic block system (PBS) on bat species diversity and community organization. PBS is a polycyclic system of selective logging with a 30-year harvesting rotation. We captured bats in primary forest and PBS-managed forest logged 33, 31, 21, 20 and 10 years previously. 3. Selective logging did not affect species diversity but did affect community structure. Frugivorous bats were significantly more abundant in logged forest whereas gleaning animalivores were more abundant in primary forest, suggesting that frugivores benefited and gleaning animalivores were adversely affected by logging. 4. The bat community showed evidence of recovery. The number of years since forest disturbance was positively correlated with the abundance and number of species of gleaning animalivores and negatively correlated with the proportional abundance of the most common species. Gleaning animalivores increased in abundance with forest regeneration, whereas the community became less dominated by a single generalist frugivore. 5. Synthesis and applications . PBS selective logging appears to be compatible with the conservation of bat diversity. This provides evidence that neotropical forests can be managed for timber production in an ecologically sustainable way and that significant biodiversity conservation efforts can occur outside national parks and nature reserves in areas set aside for sustainable development. PBS could serve as a basic blueprint for sustainable forestry in the Guianan Shield where there are forests similar in species composition to those of Trinidad. Key attributes that could be adopted by many tropical countries to manage their forests in an ecologically sustainable way are a low intensity harvest, a long rotation and multiple controls on harvesting.

Assemblage‐level responses of phyllostomid bats to tropical forest fragmentation: land‐bridge islands as a model system

“…Compared with studies conducted in systems with a low fragment-matrix contrast, the observed magnitude of responses was, as hypothesized, often greater, probably as a result of the particular nature of the matrix. Gleaning animalivores, as in other studies (Fenton et al, 1992;Sampaio, 2000;Clarke et al, 2005), were the most adversely affected ensemble, with markedly reduced abundance or complete absence on the islands. Causes for this fragmentation sensitivity may include insufficient resources in fragments, i.e.…”

Distribución y abundancia de murciélagos en bosques con diferente grado de intervención en el Parque Nacional Natural Gorgona (Colombia)

“…Conclusiones generales: A pesar de la importancia del sesgo inducido por los muestreos (Voss & Emmons, 1996;Simmons & Voss, 2001;Meyer et al, 2011), el problema de la detectabilidad no es considerado explí-citamente en la gran mayoría de estudios de variación espacial en abundancia, presencia y riqueza de murciélagos (Medellín et al, 2000;Clarke et al, 2005;Castro-Luna et al, 2007;Willig et al, 2007;Avila-Cabadilla et al, 2009). Sin embargo, los resultados del presente estudio muestran que existen una considerable variación en detectabilidad relacionada con variaciones entre gremios tróficos y tipos de cobertura, lo cual está de acuerdo con previos estudios que han evaluado las fuentes de variación relacionadas con la detectabilidad de murciélagos tropicales (Meyer et al, 2011).…”

“…Nuestros resultados concuerdan con estudios previos que ha reportado que las comunidades de murciélagos despliegan fuertes respuestas a la pérdida de bosque y al cambio en el uso de la tierra (García-Morales, Badano & Moreno, 2013;Medellín et al, 2000;Clarke et al, 2005;Castro-Luna et al, 2007;Willig et al, 2007;Avila-Cabadilla et al, 2009). Los resultados de las capturas también concuerdan con una serie de meta-análisis, en los cuales se comparó la frecuencia de presencia de especies de murciélagos entre bosques bién preservados y áreas utilizadas por humanos, y se encontró que en general las áreas utilizadas por humanos contienen más especies de murciélagos que los bosques bien preservados (García-Morales et al, 2013).…”

“…Para cumplir con el objetivo, se cuantificaron las tasas de presencia, la abundancia y la riqueza en tres diferentes tipos de cobertura, a través de modelos estadísticos que consideran que la detectabilidad de las especies es imperfecta (MacKenzie et al, 2006;Royle & Dorazio, 2008). Hasta el presente, pocos estudios han evaluado los cambios en las comunidades de murciélagos en bosques tropicales durante el proceso de sucesión (Medellín et al, 2000;Clarke, Rostant & Racey, 2005;Castro-Luna, Sosa & Castillo-Campos, 2007;Willig et al, 2007;Avila-Cabadilla, Stoner, Henry & Alvarez-Añorve, 2009) y ninguno ha utilizado modelos que consideran las diferencias temporales y espaciales en detectabilidad. Estudios previos han encontrado que la detección de especies de murciélagos tropicales es imperfecta y puede estar influenciada por el sitio, la temporada o el método de muestreo (Meyer et al, 2011).…”

Forest Structure and Composition Affect Bats in a Tropical Evergreen Broadleaf Forest

“…exhibited the greatest response; this was likely explained by preferences for less-cluttered, open space, and by species-specific food and cover requirements. The lack of response to many forest characteristics suggests that non-Phyllostomid aerial insectivorous bats in this study may be less sensitive to changes in forest structure and composition than Phyllostomids [24,[32][33][34][35], or that the relationships need to be examined at finer taxonomic levels, and that, at this level, they may not be as useful as indicators of alteration [13][14][15]. Further, these species may have some tolerance for disturbance and change, such as the hurricanes and selective logging experienced in the CFR and possibly to changes in forest structure and composition associated with climate change.…”