Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo Km 4.5, Col. Carboneras, 42184, Mineral de la Reforma, Hidalgo, México.
Conserv Biol. 2013 Oct;27(5):1096-106. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12099. Epub 2013 Jul 21.
Neotropical bats are sensitive to human-induced habitat changes, and some authors believe bats can be used as bioindicators. In the literature, however, the results are disparate. Some results show bat diversity deceases as disturbance increases, whereas others indicate no effect. Determining the general response patterns of bats when they encounter different degrees of human-induced disturbance across the Neotropics would help to determine their usefulness as bioindicators. In a series of meta-analyses, we compared the occurrence frequency of bat species between well-preserved forests and human-use areas. We obtained data through an extensive review of published peer-reviewed articles, theses, and reports. The overall effect size indicated that human-use areas harbored more bat species than well-preserved forests. Different response patterns emerged when meta-analyses were conducted separately by family, feeding habit, vegetation stratum, and conservation status. Our results suggest that bat assemblages display strong responses to forest loss and land-use change and that the direction and magnitude of these responses depends on the bat group under study and the type of disturbance. Our results are consistent with the idea that bats are useful for assessing the effects of habitat changes in the Neotropics. However, with our meta-analyses we could not detect fine differences in bat feeding habits, especially within Phyllostomidae, or elucidate the effect of landscape configuration.
新热带蝙蝠对人为引起的栖息地变化很敏感，一些作者认为蝙蝠可以作为生物指标。然而，在文献中，结果却不一致。一些结果表明，随着干扰的增加，蝙蝠多样性减少，而另一些结果则表明没有影响。确定蝙蝠在遇到新热带地区不同程度的人为干扰时的一般反应模式，将有助于确定它们作为生物指标的有用性。在一系列的荟萃分析中，我们比较了在保存完好的森林和人类使用区蝙蝠物种的出现频率。我们通过广泛查阅已发表的同行评议文章、论文和报告来获取数据。总体效应大小表明，人类使用区比保存完好的森林栖息着更多的蝙蝠物种。当按科、食性、植被层和保护状况分别进行荟萃分析时，出现了不同的反应模式。我们的结果表明，蝙蝠类群对森林丧失和土地利用变化有强烈的反应，这些反应的方向和程度取决于所研究的蝙蝠群体和干扰类型。我们的结果与蝙蝠在评估新热带地区栖息地变化的影响方面有用的观点是一致的。然而，通过我们的荟萃分析，我们无法检测到蝙蝠食性的细微差异，特别是在 Phyllostomidae 科内，也无法阐明景观配置的影响。
