Labadie Morgane, Morand Serge, Bourgarel Mathieu, Niama Fabien Roch, Nguilili Guytrich Franel, Tobi N'Kaya, Caron Alexandre, De Nys Helene
CIRAD, UMR ASTRE, Montpellier, France.
Kasetsart University, Faculty of Veterinary Technology, Bangkok, Thailand.
PeerJ. 2025 Jan 9;13:e18145. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18145. eCollection 2025.
Bats play key roles in ecosystem functions and provide services to human populations. There is a need to protect bat populations and to mitigate the risks associated with pathogen spillover. Caves are key habitats for many bat species, which use them as roosting and breeding sites. Caves, bats and their guano also attract many other animals along trophic chains which might favor direct or indirect interspecies interactions. Two caves hosting colonies of insectivorous bats have been investigated in the Republic of Congo to characterize habitat sharing and interactions between bats, humans and animals. We set up a camera-trap monitoring protocol during 19 months at the entrance of and inside each cave. Our results demonstrated the richness and complexity of the species interactions around and within these caves. We identified and/or quantified mainly rodents, but also numerous categories of animals such as insects, birds, reptiles and carnivores using the caves. We investigated the temporal variation in the use of caves and the potential interactions between humans, wild animals and bat colonies. Our study contributes to the understanding of the interface and interactions, for the first time quantified, between cave-dwelling animal species, including humans. This knowledge is important to promote the conservation of cave ecosystems and better understand the ecology of infectious diseases.
蝙蝠在生态系统功能中发挥着关键作用，并为人类提供服务。有必要保护蝙蝠种群并降低与病原体溢出相关的风险。洞穴是许多蝙蝠物种的关键栖息地，它们将洞穴用作栖息和繁殖场所。洞穴、蝙蝠及其粪便还吸引了营养链上的许多其他动物，这可能有利于直接或间接的种间相互作用。在刚果共和国，对两个栖息有食虫蝙蝠群落的洞穴进行了调查，以描述蝙蝠、人类和动物之间的栖息地共享和相互作用。我们在每个洞穴的入口和内部设置了一个为期19个月的相机陷阱监测方案。我们的结果证明了这些洞穴周围和内部物种相互作用的丰富性和复杂性。我们识别并/或量化了主要是啮齿动物，但也有许多类别的动物，如昆虫、鸟类、爬行动物和食肉动物在使用这些洞穴。我们研究了洞穴使用的时间变化以及人类、野生动物和蝙蝠群落之间的潜在相互作用。我们的研究首次对包括人类在内的穴居动物物种之间的界面和相互作用进行了量化，有助于对其的理解。这些知识对于促进洞穴生态系统的保护和更好地理解传染病生态学很重要。
