Maestría de Biología de la Conservación y Ecología Tropical, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, 1101608, Loja, Ecuador.
EcoSs_Lab, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, 1101608, Loja, Ecuador.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 11;11(1):5667. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85066-z.
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.
鉴于栖息地的广泛退化和丧失，需要可靠的指标来全面评估群落对人为干扰的响应。鳞甲目（翼手目）家族经常成为评估季节性干燥热带森林（SDTF）中蝙蝠对栖息地干扰反应的研究焦点。然而，很少有研究将该科与更大的蝙蝠组合进行比较，以评估其作为生物指标的功效。我们比较了底层 Phyllostomidae 和所有底层蝙蝠物种的群落和物种特异性属性：（1）在人类改造的 SDTF 景观中沿着栖息地干扰梯度；（2）在每个干扰水平的森林和河岸栖息地之间。我们捕获了属于 4 科 13 种的 290 只个体。基于丰富度和 beta 多样性，Phyllostomidae 物种对干扰的敏感性大于整个底层蝙蝠群落。两组对森林栖息地的干扰都比河岸栖息地更敏感，但鳞甲目物种更有可能从高度干扰的森林栖息地中消失。两种主要物种的数量随着干扰而减少，但身体状况的变化是特定于物种的。这些结果表明，与整个底层蝙蝠群落相比，鳞甲目在 SDTF 中对人类干扰的指示更为有效，评估蝙蝠对干扰的反应最好采用多方面的方法。
