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Vertical stratification in bat assemblages of the Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2017

Renato Gregorin ,
Enrico Bernard ,
Karina Weiser Lobão ,
Luciany Ferreira Oliveira ,
Felipe Santana Machado ,
Bruno Bret Gil  and
Valéria da Cunha Tavares
Renato Gregorin*
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG.Brazil
Enrico Bernard
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ciência Aplicada à Conservação da Biodiversidade, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE.Brazil
Karina Weiser Lobão
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG.Brazil
Luciany Ferreira Oliveira
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG.Brazil
Felipe Santana Machado
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG.Brazil
Bruno Bret Gil
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG.Brazil
Valéria da Cunha Tavares
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais MG.Brazil Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Minas Gerais (UEMG), Ibirité MG.Brazil
*
*Corresponding author. Email: rgregorin@dbi.ufla.br
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Abstract:

Tropical forests are three-dimensional spaces with species and resources heterogeneously distributed. The vertical stratification of tropical forest biotas has been observed for several organisms and regions, but, surprisingly, the vertical structuring of large areas of important tropical forests, such as Brazil's Atlantic Forest, remains poorly studied. Here, we addressed the use of different Atlantic Forest strata by bats, comparing ensemble composition and relative abundance between the understorey and the canopy. A total of 618 bats belonging to 31 species and four families were recorded, including 11 species of frugivores and seven species of gleaning insectivores, the two trophic guilds predominantly represented in our sampling. Fifteen species were captured exclusively in the canopy, and six exclusively in the understorey, and many of those species were represented by a low number of captures (<5). The bat species composition, richness and relative abundance between canopy and understorey strata varied. Chiroderma villosum was exclusively captured in the canopy, Artibeus lituratus was netted predominantly in the canopy and Carollia perspicillata and Desmodus rotundus were mostly captured in the understorey. Although processes such as resource partitioning between species and ecomorphological constraints may explain the differential use of forest strata, this remains little understood because of the scarcity of data for the Atlantic forest canopies.

Keywords

canopy diversityChiropteraMata AtlânticaRio Doce State Park
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 33 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 299 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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