The bats (Mammalia:Chiroptera) of the lower Waria Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea: a survey and comparison across habitat types using mist nets

Abstract

From June 2007 to February 2009 the Waria Valley Community Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods Project completed a mist net survey of bats in the lower Waria Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The Waria Valley is located on the north coast of the Morobe Province ~190 km south-east of Lae, and still has large tracts of intact lowland hill and plain rainforest. Four broad habitats (agricultural, secondary forest edge, primary forest edge and primary forest) were surveyed using mist nets. A total of 596 individuals representing 11 species were caught, measured and identified over 8824 net-m h–1 across 99 nights. Within the limitations of this method, primary forest edge sites in general showed the highest degree of species richness and diversity and along with secondary forest edge sites were more even in species composition. Primary forest and agricultural sites were each dominated by a single species, Syconycteris australis and Macroglossus minimus respectively. Most captures were megachiropterans and microchiropterans were underrepresented, presumably in part because of the survey method employed.

Global systematic map of research on bats in agricultural systems

“…Abundance and taxonomic richness may show opposite trends when compared to other biodiversity indices. For example, Dawson et al (2012) did not find a difference in abundance and taxonomic richness when comparing primary forests to plantations but found a decrease in taxonomic diversity in plantations. The scarcity of studies using other indices limits our understanding of how plantations affect bats.…”