Rapid survey of bats (Chiroptera) in the Atlantic Forest in eastern Sergipe, Brazil: unexpected diversity in a fragmented landscape

Abstract

Despite advances in recent decades, the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil is still one of the least studied regions of the country, regarding, for instance, the bat fauna. The present study reports on the results of a rapid survey of the bat fauna of a fragmented landscape in the Atlantic Forest of eastern Sergipe, in the legal forest reserve of Fazenda Santana, a commercial sugarcane plantation located in the adjoining municipalities of Japoatã and Pacatuba. We recorded 272 bats belonging to 23 species and four families, from which 265 individuals from 18 species from two families (Phyllostomidae and Vespertilionidae) were captured in the mist-nets, and seven individuals of six species from four families (Emballonuridae, Molossidae, Phyllostomidae and Vespertilionidae) were recorded during the active searches. This species richness was higher than that found in previous studies in the Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brazil. Lasiurus blossevillii and Micronycteris minuta were recorded in Sergipe for the first time, increasing to 57 the number of bat species known to occur in this state. The use of alternative strategies (such as active search and sampling one night per point, seeking to areas with greater availability of resources) in rapid surveys may contribute to the compilation of a more robust sampling, reinforcing the usefulness of this approach for the inventory of the bat fauna of a given region.

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

“…The use of acoustic identification of bats as a research tool has increased substantially over the past few decades but in Neotropics, most bat inventories have mostly been conducted using mistnet sampling and roost search (Sampaio et al, 2003;Arias-Aguilar et al, 2018;Pedroso et al, 2020). Bioacoustic methods have been used less due to the lack of high quality reference material (Arias-Aguilar et al, 2018).…”

Gastrointestinal parasites in marsupials from Atlantic Forest of Northeastern Brazil

“…The forest fragment of the UFS is in the São Cristóvão Campus (10º55'S, 37º04'W), periurban parkland surrounded by a 30ha forest remnant (Rocha et al, 2011). The legal forest reserve of SF (600ha; 10°32'07"S, 36°45'54"W) is a sugarcane plant located between the municipalities of Japoatã and Pacatuba (Pedroso et al, 2020). A predominant seasonal semideciduous vegetation features these areas, with annual temperature mean ranging from 24 to 30°C, and tropical climate (As) according to the Köppen's climate classification (Alvares et al, 2013).…”

Variation in diet of frugivorous bats in fragments of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest associated with vegetation density

“…Bats in the family Phyllostomidae are among the most common in the Atlantic Forest (Pedroso et al 2020) and are among the most diverse families of bats in the Neotropics (160+ species) including all Neotropical fruit-eating bats (Simmons 2005). Many phyllostomid bats exhibit specialized feeding strategies and are commonly grouped into broad trophic guilds (e.g., sanguivory or nectarivory).…”