The Iwokrama Rain Forest Programme for sustainable development: how much of Guyana's bat (Chiroptera) diversity does it encompass?

Abstract

In 1989 Guyana designated 3600km 2 of tropical rain forest as the 'Iwokrama Rain Forest Programme' (IRFP) for developing methods of sustainable forest utilization and for conserving biodiversity. Bat diversity was assessed in 5 km 2 of the IRFP area over a ten-week period. Effort totalled 22 400 m 2 mist-net hours during 26 nights, 227 m 2 harp-trap hours during 8 nights and 28 person days searching for roosts. This revealed 38 species of bats. In comparison with two other neotropical sites alpha diversity was high as shown by a Shannon diversity index of 1.30 for the 33 species taken in foraging areas by mist net and harp trap.Four forest types found here show some of the lowest floristic diversity in the neotropics. The high motility of bats allows them to exploit the range of forest types available locally, so avoiding constraints imposed within any one forest type.A list of bat species known from Guyana was compiled from the literature. A total of 96 species were found plus 17 unsupported records. The list is presented together with a further 45 species that potentially could occur. Our survey has shown that 45 of the 96 species recorded in Guyana (47%) are known from the IRFP area, suggesting that it provides a good representation of Guyana's bat fauna.

Bat community structure at Iwokrama Forest, Guyana

“…As part of a larger project on the biodiversity and conservation of mammals in Guyana (Engstrom & Lim, in press), we also conducted fieldwork in the Iwokrama Forest area in October 1990, July 1994 and July 1995. The only other bat survey was carried out from July to September 1992 by Smith & Kerry (1996). Based on these field studies, 86 species of bat have been recorded from sites in Iwokrama Forest, giving it the highest reported diversity for any protected area in the world (Lim et al 1999, Lim & Engstrom 2001.…”

Geographic distribution and morphological variation in Mimon bennettii (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae)

“…The material from Bahia was collected by B. Bicego, who indicated the locality as "Baia", more precisely Salvador, in the Atlantic Forest, as recently proposed . Records of M. bennettii in other parts of South America include the southeastern Colombia (DÍAZ et al, 1986;MONTENEGRO & ROMERO-RUIZ, 1999;ALBERICO et al, 2000), eastern Venezuela (MOLINA et al, 1995), Guiana (SMITH & KERRY, 1996;LIM & ENGSTROM, 2001), French Guiana (BROSSET & CHARLES-DOMINIQUE, 1990;SIMMONS & VOSS, 1998), and northern Suriname (HUSSON, 1962;GENOWAYS et al, 1981) (Fig. 1).…”