A multifaceted approach to understanding bat community response to disturbance in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Autor: Darwin Valle, Daniel M. Griffith, Andrea Jara-Guerrero, Diego Armijos-Ojeda, Carlos I. Espinosa
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2045-2322
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-85066-z
Popis: Abstract Given widespread habitat degradation and loss, reliable indicators are needed that provide a comprehensive assessment of community response to anthropogenic disturbance. The family Phyllostomidae (Order Chiroptera) has frequently been the focus of research evaluating bats’ response to habitat disturbance in seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs). However, few studies compare this family to the larger bat assemblage to assess its efficacy as a bioindicator. We compared community and species-specific attributes of understory phyllostomid and all understory bat species: (1) along a gradient of habitat disturbance within a human-modified SDTF landscape; and (2) between forest and riparian habitats within each disturbance level. We captured 290 individuals belonging to 13 species and 4 families. Phyllostomid species exhibited greater sensitivity to disturbance than the understory bat community as a whole based on richness and beta diversity. Both groups were more sensitive to disturbance in forest than riparian habitat, but phyllostomid species were more likely to be lost from highly disturbed forest habitat. The two dominant species declined in abundance with disturbance but variation in body condition was species-specific. These results suggest that Phyllostomidae are more effective indicators of human disturbance in SDTF than the understory bat community as a whole and evaluation of bats’ response to disturbance is best accomplished with a multifaceted approach.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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