Bats have been increasingly studied in the last 15 years in Mato Grosso do Sul, and several records were not yet considered in reviews of South American bat distributions. Here, we present the bat species and their distributions in Mato Grosso do Sul based mainly on data compilation from literature, but also on complementary information from zoological collections, and our and colleagues' unpublished records. We found 74 species of bats within 42 genera and seven families already reported in Mato Grosso do Sul. Bat species in this state represent 44% of the Brazilian's bat species (E 169) and 7% of the world's bat richness (E 1120). Phyllostomidae (42) and Molossidae (17) were the richest families. Four species formerly cited for Mato Grosso do Sul are not supported by our compilation, and other 15 species recorded in the vicinity are listed as potential occurrences in this state. We additionally found controversial traits for specimens of Platyrrhinus helleri, and report Eumops dabbenei for the first time in Brazil. Most species were recorded in the regions of Cerrado (60) or Pantanal (57) in Mato Grosso do Sul, but only 16 in the Atlantic Forest. Records of Phyllostomidae species were mostly found in Cerrado and those of Molossidae, in Pantanal. Records in Mato Grosso do Sul determine edges of distribution for at least 22 species of South American bats. The overall known chiropteran fauna of Mato Grosso do Sul is highly diverse and new findings are expected through additional surveys. Keywords: Cerrado, Chiroptera, geographic distribution, Eumops dabbenei, Pantanal, Platyrrhinus helleri.

The doline Buraco das Araras is a peculiar environment and important destiny for ecotourism in the Serra da Bodoquena region, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Here we describe the bat fauna of the doline and surrounding areas, and report its use as dayroost by the bat Nyctinomops laticaudatus. Bats were mist-netted during two field expeditions, in November 2007 and January 2008. We captured 153 individuals of 10 species, mainly N. laticaudatus (n = 90) and Artibeus planirostris (n = 28). This is the first record of N. laticaudatus in the Serra da Bodoquena region; it was captured only in January when leaving the doline in dense flocks at dusk. Phyllostomus hastatus, Micronycteris sanborni, and Molossops temminckii are also new records for the Serra da Bodoquena region. Three individuals - A. planirostris, Carollia perspicillata and Glossophaga soricina - tagged in November were recaptured in January, indicating that these species are residents. The doline and bordering vegetation appear to be important sources of shelter and food for bat fauna maintenance.

ABSTRACT. We updated the checklist of mammals from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil based on primary records only. One hundred and sixty-six mammal species were listed as occurring in the state, 47 of them being medium to large, 47 small mammal and 73 bat species. The listed species are distributed in 31 families: Didelphidae (17 spp.), Dasypodidae (7 spp.), Myrmecophagidae (2 spp.), Cebidae (1 sp.), Callithrichidae (2 spp.), Aotidae (1 sp.), Pitheciidae (1 sp.), Atelidae (1 sp.), Leporidae (1 sp.), Felidae (7 spp.), Canidae (4 spp.), Mustelidae (5 spp.), Mephitidae (2 spp.), Procyonidae (2 spp.), Tapiridae (1 sp.), Tayassuidae (2 spp.), Cervidae (4 spp.), Sciuridae (1 sp.), Cricetidae (22 spp.), Erethizontidae (1 sp.), Caviidae (3 spp.), Dasyproctidae (1 sp.), Cuniculidae (1 sp.), Echimyidae (4 spp.), Phyllostomidae (41 spp.), Emballonuridae (2 spp.), Molossidae (16 spp.), Vespertilionidae (9 spp.), Mormoopidae (1 sp.), Noctilionidae (2 spp.), and Natalidade (1 sp.). These numbers represent an increase of fourteen species with primary records for the state in comparison with the previously published checklist. However, it is evident the scarcity of information at several regions of the state, and the need of implementation of regional zoological collections. The state of Mato Grosso do Sul represent only 4.19% of the Brazilian territory, but the number of mammal species reach 24.13% of the known species occurring in the country.

Abstract:The Cerrado (savanna) is a wide Neotropical formation, but the knowledge on the occurrence and distribution of bat species for this phytogeographic region is scarce, especially in the western portion. Here we address what are the bat species and their relative abundances in a western Cerrado site, municipality of Sonora, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Bats were mist-netted in eight non consecutive months over the course of two years. Sampled bats (n = 507) belonged to 18 species. The estimator Jackknife 1 estimated 22 species, and diversity (H') was 1.6. Richness and diversity of bats in Sonora were slightly higher than in the southern Cerrado, and similar to or lower than in the central Cerrado. Frugivorous species predominated, as expected, however richness and abundance of nectarivorous were unexpectedly high. Carollia perspicillata was the dominant species. The endemic bat Lonchophylla dekeyseri was highly abundant in Sonora, which enhances the importance of conserving the savanna remnants in this region. Resumo: O Cerrado (savana) é uma ampla formação neotropical, porém o conhecimento sobre a ocorrência e distribuição de espécies de morcegos é escasso para esta região fitogeográfica, principalmente na porção oeste. Estudamos aqui quais são as espécies de morcegos e suas abundâncias relativas em uma localidade da porção oeste do Cerrado, no município de Sonora, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil. Morcegos foram capturados em redes-de-neblina em oito meses não consecutivos ao longo de dois anos. Os morcegos amostrados (n = 507) pertenceram a 18 espécies. O estimador Jackknife 1 estimou 22 espécies, e a diversidade (H') foi 1,6. A riqueza e a diversidade de morcegos em Sonora foram pouco maiores que na porção sul do Cerrado, e semelhantes ou menores que no Cerrado central. Espécies frugívoras predominaram, como esperado, porém a riqueza e abundância de nectarívoras foram inesperadamente altas. Carollia perspicillata foi a espécie dominante. O morcego endêmico Lonchophylla dekeyseri foi muito abundante em Sonora, fato que aumenta a importância de conservar os remanescentes de savana dessa região. We evaluated suffi ciency of sampling using rarefaction curves based on the cumulative quantity of captured individuals, and estimated total expected richness with Jackknife 1 estimator (1000 randomizations) based on sampling nights. Shannon's diversity index (H'), using neperian logarithm and the 95% CI (bootstrap, 1000 randomizations), were calculated for the bat assemblage. Analyses were done in the Vegan package (Oksanen et al. 2010), R program (R Development Core Team 2010). ResultsWe captured 507 individuals belonging to four families, 14 genera and 18 species ( Table 1). The rarefaction curve (Figure 1) showed that capture effort was suffi cient to include most of the species at the study site. The Jackknife 1 estimated 22 ± 1.9 (mean ± SD) species of bats, thus our observed richness (n = 18) included approximately 82% of the bat species which could be captured in mist-nets. The diversity (H') was 1.6, with 95% CI...

Aim: Plant reliance on animal mutualists is expected to decrease with latitude owing to increasing environmental instability. As a consequence, more erratic animal pollination in the temperate zones than in the tropics could translate into lower efficiency in pollen transfer, and thus increasing pollen wastage. Despite the relevance of this hypothesis for plant reproductive evolution, the implications of a proposed latitudinal gradient in pollinator reliability for pollen and ovule production, traits directly affecting seed siring and seed set, respectively, remain unresolved.

Inundation and fire can affect the structure of riparian vegetation in wetlands. Our aim was to verify if there are differences in richness, abundance, basal area, composition and topographic preference of woody species in riparian forests related to the fire history, flooding duration, or the interaction between both. The study was conducted in the riparian forests of the Paraguay River some of which were burned three times between 2001 and 2011. We sampled trees with a girth of at least 5 cm at breast height in 150 5 × 10 m plots (79 burned and 71 unburned). We also measured height of the flood mark and estimated the flooding duration of each plot. We performed Generalized Linear Mixed Models to verify differences in richness, basal area, and abundance of individuals associated to interaction of fire and inundation. We used an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and indicator species analysis to identify differences in composition of species and the association with burned and unburned area according to different levels of inundation. Finally, we used a hierarchical set of Generalized Linear Models (GLM), the so-called HOF models, to analyse each species’ specific response to inundation based on topography and to determine their preferred optimal topographic position for both burned as well as unburned areas. Richness was positively associated with elevation only in burned areas while abundance was negatively influenced by inundation only in burned areas. Basal area was negatively associated with time of inundation independent of fire history. There were 15 species which were significant indicators for at least one combination of the studied factors. We found nine species in burned areas and 15 in unburned areas, with response curves in HOF models along the inundation gradient. From these, five species shifted their optimal position along the inundation gradient in burned areas. The interaction of fire and inundation did not appear to affect the basal area, but it did affect the richness, number of individuals, success of some species, and seemed to shape the boundary of these forests as shown by the difference in the positioning of these species along the inundation gradient.

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Understanding the relationships among community structure, vegetation structure and availability of food resources are a key to unravelling the ecological processes that structure biological communities. In this study, we tested (i) whether the composition of small mammal communities changed across gradients in habitat quality in tropical forest fragments, and (ii) whether any observed change could be explained by the functional traits of species. We sampled 24 trapping grids in fragments of semi‐deciduous forest, in each of two 6‐month periods. We considered each trapping grid as a sampling unit, for which we collected three datasets: an environmental matrix (vegetation structure and food resource availability), the abundance of small mammal species (community structure) and a matrix of functional traits (ecological and morphological traits which express tolerance to habitat disturbance and trophic guild). We used an RLQ approach to evaluate the association between traits and environmental gradients. Forest‐specialist and scansorial–arboreal species were associated with more complex habitat that had greater litter and canopy cover and more fallen logs. In relation to trophic guilds, granivore (fruit seeds), insectivorous and omnivorous species were also associated with higher complexity habitat, while frugivores were associated with shrub cover and availability of fruits. We conclude that functional traits (habitat use, use of vertical strata and diet) provide valuable insights into the distribution of small mammals along gradients of habitat quality in tropical forest fragments. We highlight that communities studies in fragmented landscapes should investigate the different components of biodiversity not only in landscape‐scale but also in habitat scale.Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.