Bovendorp Ricardo, Mariano-Neto Eduardo, Queiroz Albérico, Faria Deborah
Applied Ecology and Conservation Laboratory, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus 45662-900, Bahia, Brazil.
Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador 40170-115, Bahia, Brazil.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jul 15;15(14):2082. doi: 10.3390/ani15142082.
Habitat loss and land-use intensification are major threats to biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, particularly for bat assemblages that provide key ecosystem services. In this study, we examined how landscape composition (forest and pasture cover) and local forest structure influence the richness and abundance of phyllostomid bats across 20 forest fragments in southern Bahia. Bat sampling was conducted using mist nets, and forest structure was quantified using tree measurements and vertical foliage stratification. We applied structural equation modeling to test the direct and indirect effects of landscape and local variables. Our results show that forest cover has both direct and indirect positive effects on bat diversity, mediated by improved forest structure. In contrast, increased pasture cover negatively affected forest structure and was weakly associated with bat diversity. The most abundant species were generalist frugivores, such as and . These findings highlight the importance of maintaining forest cover and structural complexity to support bat diversity in agroforestry-dominated landscapes. Conservation strategies that integrate habitat protection with sustainable land-use practices are crucial to maintaining biodiversity and the ecological functions provided by bats in this globally threatened biome.
栖息地丧失和土地利用集约化是巴西大西洋森林生物多样性面临的主要威胁，对于提供关键生态系统服务的蝙蝠群落而言尤为如此。在本研究中，我们调查了景观组成（森林和牧场覆盖）以及当地森林结构如何影响巴伊亚州南部20个森林片段中叶口蝠的丰富度和数量。使用雾网进行蝙蝠采样，并通过树木测量和垂直树叶分层对森林结构进行量化。我们应用结构方程模型来测试景观和局部变量的直接和间接影响。我们的结果表明，森林覆盖对蝙蝠多样性具有直接和间接的积极影响，这是通过改善森林结构来介导的。相比之下，牧场覆盖增加对森林结构产生负面影响，并且与蝙蝠多样性的关联较弱。最丰富的物种是食果性广适种，如 和 。这些发现凸显了在以农林业为主的景观中维持森林覆盖和结构复杂性以支持蝙蝠多样性的重要性。将栖息地保护与可持续土地利用实践相结合的保护策略对于维护生物多样性以及蝙蝠在这个全球受威胁生物群落中提供的生态功能至关重要。
