Abstract

CARDONA, Diana M; CASTANO, John H  and  BOTERO, Jorge E. Distribución anidada de murciélagos en fragmentos de bosque premontano de la cuenca media del río Cauca, Colombia . Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.2, pp.371-387. ISSN 0327-9383.

Habitat fragmentation changes the structure and composition of ecological assemblages, forming subsets of those species found in unfragmented habitats. The goal of this project was to identify the pattern of distribution of bats in 15 montane humid forest fragments in the middle Cauca River basin (Colombia), and to study the structural characteristics of forest fragments that may explain the occurrence of bats. Bats were captured in mist nets, diversity and nestedness were calculated, and their relationship with measures of struc­tural features was analyzed using Generalized Linear Models. A total of 1162 individuals belonging to 32 bat species were recorded in 15 750 net-hours. Lonchophylla concava was recorded for the first time in the study area. The distribution of bat species in forest fragments revealed a nested pattern, in which forests with lower species richness represent subsamples of the species in the forests with greater species richness. Importantly, this nested structure is not related to the size of forest, but rather to the mean basal area and the mean diameter at breast height of the vegetation. In this sense, the richness of bat species increases with the degree of recovery of forest fragments, which is a relevant factor to predict the pattern of distribution of bats.

Keywords : Assemblage structure; Coffee landscape; Forest fragmentation; Landscape ecology; Nestedness.