Anthropogenic effects on bat biodiversity in the Amazon

STEVEN J. PRESLEY; MICHAEL R. WILLIG; CHRISTOPHER P. BLOCH; CHRISTINE L. HICE; STEPHEN P. YANOVIAK; M. MÓNICA DÍAZ; LILY ARIAS CHAUCA; VÍCTOR PACHECO

Springfield, Missouri, Estados Unidos

Congreso; American Society of Mammalogist 85st Annual Meeting; 2005

American Society of Mammalogist

Habitat fragmentation and conversion are among the human activities that pose the greatest threat to species persistence and conservation of biodiversity.  This is particularly true in the Neotropics, where bats represent important components of biodiversity from taxonomic and functional perspectives.  We assessed the degree to which conversion of lowland Amazonian Rainforest to agriculture, and its subsequent abandonment and secondary succession, affect the abundances of populations and guilds in the vicinity of Iquitos, Peru.   To do so, we established five random blocks, in each of which we located three habitat types (mature forest, successional forest, and agricultural land).  At each of the resultant 15 plots (2.25 ha), we erected twelve 12 m nets, 8 at ground level and 4 in the sub-canopy, for three nights during the wet season and three nights during the dry season.  Based on 90,720 meter hours of netting, we captured 3,790 bats representing 51 species, 28 genera, and 5 families.  In terms of species richness and abundance, frugivores dominated assemblages in all habitat types in both seasons.  Nonetheless, 12 species consistently responded to habitat conversion (3 gleaning animalivores, [P]. [discolor], [T]. [saurophila], and [T]. [silvicola]; 1 [nectarivore], [G]. [soricina]; and 4 frugivores, [C]. [castanea], [M]. [macconnelli], [S]. [lilium], and [U]. [bilobatum]) or responded to habitat conversion in a season-specific manner (2 gleaning animalivores, [M]. [crenulatum] and [P]. [hastatus]; 2 frugivores, [Carollia] spp. and [S]. [magna]).  At the level of feeding guilds, abundance of nectarivores responded to habitat conversion in a consistent manner, whereas abundance of gleaning animalivores did so in a season-dependent fashion.  Abundances of aerial insectivores, frugivores, and sanguinivores did not respond to habitat in a consistent or in a season-dependent fashion.  Human activity clearly affects the spatial dynamics of Amazonian biodiversity.