Tropical rain-forest matrix quality affects bat assemblage structure in secondary forest patches

Vleut, Ivar; Levy-Tacher, Samuel I.; Galindo‐González, Jorge; Boer, Willem F. de; Ramírez‐Marcial, Neptalí

doi:10.1644/12-mamm-a-005.1

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, only the abundance of fruits was positively correlated to the bat abundance, instead of fruit diversity, supporting the findings of an earlier study on increasing bat abundance with increasing fruit availability in agroecosystems [21]. Additionally, in areas of similar (temporal) fruit abundance, bat abundance and diversity is probably determined more by vegetation structural differences, such as tree density, height and canopy openness.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The eight secondary forest patches were divided over two treatments: four patches of secondary forest were dominated by the pioneer tree O. pyramidale (Malvaceae), hereafter called O. pyramidale forests, product of management by Lacandon farmers before the end of the cultivation period; and four patches of secondary forests without any preference for tree species (hereafter called secondary forests), so we have three treatments ( O. pyramidale forests, secondary forest and rain forest) with four replicates each. The proportion of surrounding rain forest around secondary forest patches was similar among sites to reduce the effect of confounding variables on bat diversity [21]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ochroma pyramidale is a fast growing light demanding early-successional species [9,12–14], able to reach up to 6 m in a year, that can improve soil fertility through the acceleration of soil organic matter accumulation [15,16]. Changes in structure and composition due to specific traits of this dominant tree could trigger important cascading effects, as compositional and structural differences in tropical forests have been associated with differences in the bat species composition or species-specific abundance [17–21]. Ochroma pyramidale secondary forests presented higher canopy openness and tree height, lower tree density and higher shrub density in the understory in comparison with control secondary forests [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A higher canopy openness could negatively affect bat assemblage, due to increasing predation risk [22], but could increase the abundance of Carollia and Sturnira bats, preferring fruits from light demanding early-successional shrub species (e.g. Piperaceae and Solanaceae) [7,20,21,23,24]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Tropical Secondary Forest Management Influences Frugivorous Bat Composition, Abundance and Fruit Consumption in Chiapas, Mexico

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most studies on frugivorous bat assemblages in secondary forests have concentrated on differences among successional stages, and have disregarded the effect of forest management. Secondary forest management practices alter the vegetation structure and fruit availability, important factors associated with differences in frugivorous bat assemblage structure, and fruit consumption and can therefore modify forest succession. Our objective was to elucidate factors (forest structural variables and fruit availability) determining bat diversity, abundance, composition and species-specific abundance of bats in (i) secondary forests managed by Lacandon farmers dominated by Ochroma pyramidale, in (ii) secondary forests without management, and in (iii) mature rain forests in Chiapas, Southern Mexico. Frugivorous bat species diversity (Shannon H’) was similar between forest types. However, bat abundance was highest in rain forest and O. pyramidale forests. Bat species composition was different among forest types with more Carollia sowelli and Sturnira lilium captures in O. pyramidale forests. Overall, bat fruit consumption was dominated by early-successional shrubs, highest late-successional fruit consumption was found in rain forests and more bats consumed early-successional shrub fruits in O. pyramidale forests. Ochroma pyramidale forests presented a higher canopy openness, tree height, lower tree density and diversity of fruit than secondary forests. Tree density and canopy openness were negatively correlated with bat species diversity and bat abundance, but bat abundance increased with fruit abundance and tree height. Hence, secondary forest management alters forests’ structural characteristics and resource availability, and shapes the frugivorous bat community structure, and thereby the fruit consumption by bats.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Tropical Secondary Forest Management Influences Frugivorous Bat Composition, Abundance and Fruit Consumption in Chiapas, Mexico

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similarly species composition and abundance of Phyllostomidae assemblages varied greatly with landscape configuration in Atlantic forest of Paraguay (Gorresen and Willig 2004) as well as in a secondary forest patches landscape (Vleut et al 2012) and in a mosaic of tropical rain forest fragments and agricultural habitats in Mexico (Estrada et al 1993). While vegetation types were sampled identically in island and mainland, we believe that, at some scale, bat community structure was influenced by the landscape structure, being that species interactions are thought to be the main cues of the differences between island and mainland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distance from the mainland is a selective pressure for Phyllostomidae bats: the case of Maracá-Jipioca Island in the northern coast of Brazil

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large islands near the mainland tend to have greater species richness than smaller or remote oceanic islands. This study aimed to compare the community of Phyllostomidae bats on the island of Maracá-Jipioca, in Amapá, northern Brazil, and on the adjacent mainland. We also compared the community in four vegetation types present in both areas. Sampling occurred during the wet and dry seasons of 2010 at 24 independent sampling points. We recorded 333 Phyllostomidae bats belonging to 19 species. Species richness did not differ between the island and mainland but was different among the vegetation types, with grassland being the poorest. Species composition and abundance were different between the island and mainland. This difference was significant for Carollia perspicillata and Phyllostomus elongatus, which were more abundant on the island and mainland, respectively. Artibeus concolor did not exhibit differences between the two areas but differed among the vegetation types, being more abundant in flooded forest. Our findings did reveal that isolation and distance act as selective pressures for Phyllostomidae bats.

show abstract

Ultrasonic monitoring to assess the impacts of forest conversion on Solomon Island bats

Davies

Růžička

Lavery

et al. 2016

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Paleotropical islands are experiencing extensive land-use change, yet little is known about how such changes are impacting wildlife in these biodiversity hotspots. To address this knowledge gap, we characterized bat responses to forest conversion in a biodiverse, human-threatened coastal rainforest habitat on Makira, Solomon Islands. We analysed~200 h of acoustic recordings from echolocating bats in the four dominant types of land use on Makira: intact forest, secondary forest, food gardens and cacao plantations. Bat calls were identified to the species level using a supervised classification model (where labelled data are used to train the system). We examined relative activity levels and morphological traits across habitats. Relative activity levels were highest in intermediately disturbed habitats and lowest in the most heavily disturbed habitat, although these differences were not significant. There were significant differences in the mean forearm length of bat assemblages across habitats, with the highest mean forearm length found in the most open habitat (Cacao). Overall, our study constitutes the first detailed exploration of anthropogenic effects on mammalian diversity in the Solomon Islands and includes the first acoustic and morphological information for many bat species in Melanesia. We use our experience to discuss the challenges of acoustic monitoring in such a remote and poorly studied region.

show abstract

Tropical rain-forest matrix quality affects bat assemblage structure in secondary forest patches

Cited by 18 publications

References 56 publications

Tropical Secondary Forest Management Influences Frugivorous Bat Composition, Abundance and Fruit Consumption in Chiapas, Mexico

Tropical Secondary Forest Management Influences Frugivorous Bat Composition, Abundance and Fruit Consumption in Chiapas, Mexico

Distance from the mainland is a selective pressure for Phyllostomidae bats: the case of Maracá-Jipioca Island in the northern coast of Brazil

Ultrasonic monitoring to assess the impacts of forest conversion on Solomon Island bats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About