Chiropteran diversity in the peripheral areas of the Maduru-Oya National Park in Sri Lanka: insights for conservation and management
| Autor: | Majintha Madawala, Gayan Edirisinghe, Dinesh Gabadage, Kalika Perera, Thilina Surasinghe, Devaka Weerakoon, Madhava Botejue, Suranjan Karunarathna |
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| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
roosting sites Asia Buffer zone Integrated farming media_common.quotation_subject Biodiversity & Conservation 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Novel ecosystem Chiroptera lcsh:Zoology lcsh:QL1-991 species richness Forest gardening Wilderness Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics media_common threats behavior National park Agroforestry 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology conservation habitat associations Geography Habitat Animal Science and Zoology Species richness Research Article |
| Zdroj: | ZooKeys ZooKeys 784: 139-162 ZooKeys, Vol 784, Iss, Pp 139-162 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 1313-2970 1313-2989 |
| Popis: | In Sri Lanka, there are 31 species of bats distributed from lowlands to mountains. To document bat diversity and their habitat associations, 58 roosting sites in Maduru-Oya National Park periphery were surveyed. Fifteen bat species were recorded occupying 16 different roosting sites in this area. Among all the species recorded, Rhinolophusrouxii was the most abundant species per roosting site whereas Kerivoulapicta was the least abundant. A road-kill specimen similar to genus Phoniscus was found during the survey, a genus so far only documented in Southeast Asia and Australasia. Although our study area provided habitats for a diverse chiropteran community, the colony size per roost was remarkably low. Although our study area is supposedly a part of the park’s buffer zone, many anthropogenic activities are threatening the bat community: felling large trees, slash-and-burn agriculture, excessive use of agrochemicals, vengeful killing, and subsidized predation. We strongly recommend adoption of wildlife-friendly sustainable land management practices in the buffer zone such as forest gardening, agroforestry (alley cropping, mixed-cropping), and integrated farming. Bat conservation in this region should take a landscape-scale conservation approach which includes Maduru-Oya National Park and other surrounding protected areas into a regional conservation network. Extents of undisturbed wilderness are dramatically declining in Sri Lanka; thus, future conservation efforts must be retrofitted into anthropocentric multiuse landscapes and novel ecosystems like areas surrounding Maduru-Oya National Park. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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