Habitat use and seasonal activity of insectivorous bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the grasslands of southern Brazil

Barros, Marília A. S.; Pessoa, Daniel Marques Almeida; Rui, Ana Maria

doi:10.1590/s1984-46702014000200006

Cited by 35 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…A bat pass is a single sequence of two or more recorded echolocation calls as defined by Thomas (1988). We used Pettersson D240X ultrasound detectors (Pettersson Elektronik ABTM, Uppsala, Sweden (http://www.batsound.com/) in heterodyne mode (Estrada et al 2004, Barros et al 2014 to survey bat activity. The detector was always tuned to 33 kHz, and bat passes were counted along 10-minute transects at the start of each hour.…”

Section: Bat Activity Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bat activity in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Kenya

2018

Barb

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Although the coastal forests in Kenya are highly threatened by human activities, limited bat research has been undertaken in them or the human-modified habitats around them. We investigated insectivorous bat activity in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) and adjacent farmlands, in order to understand how each habitat was used by bats. Bat activity was sampled with Pettersson D240X ultrasound detectors at 69 stations in different vegetation types in ASF (Cynometra forest, Brachystegia woodland and mixed forest) and farmlands (mango, coconut and mixed plots). The detector was always tuned to 33 kHz, and bat passes were counted along 10-minute 400 m transects at the start of each sampling hour in each station. In each activity survey station, insectivorous bats were also captured in mist-nets in order to determine which of the detector targeted bats could be captured. A total of 14,727 bat passes were counted in both habitats, which included 10,552 in the farmlands and 4,175 in ASF. The largest numbers of insectivorous bats were captured in farmlands. The mean number of bat passes per night in farmlands (152.9 ± 13.2) was significantly higher than in ASF (60.5 ± 4.6) (df = 68, t =-8.671, P <0.05, N = 69). There was no significant difference in the sampled medians of bat passes in the three main vegetation types both in the interior of the forest and in farmlands. Bat activity was highest during the rainy season. Bat activity in both habitats peaked at 1900hr (i.e. just after sunset), sharply declined to the lowest level at midnight, and then maintained a gradual increase from two to five in the morning. Although the farmlands in the study area had completely lost the indigenous vegetation found in ASF, some bat species, probably those more adapted to humanized environments, were found to use these habitats for foraging. This emphasizes the need for more bat research in humanmodified ecosystems in Africa in order to understand these patterns and establish proper conservation guidelines.

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Section: Bat Activity Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bat activity in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Kenya

2018

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“…The elaboration of these maps should take into account spatial and temporal patterns of activity, species composition, roost location and identification of bat foraging areas (Table 2; columns 5, 6 and 7). To obtain these data, sampling schemes should include at least one year encompassing all seasons, if the required study by the environmental agency is an EIA, or at least six months, encompassing two consecutive seasons necessarily including the summer (spring and summer, or summer and fall), if the required study is a RAS ( Table 2; columns 8 and 9) in shorter studies like a RAS, fieldwork during wintertime should be avoided because bat activity is significantly reduced (Barros et al 2014). In both cases, sampling should have a monthly frequency and at least one-week duration.…”

Section: Preliminary Licensementioning

confidence: 99%

Guidelines for Consideration of Bats in Environmental Impact Assessment of Wind Farms in Brazil: A Collaborative Governance Experience From Rio Grande Do Sul State

et al. 2017

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In recent years Brazil has become the third largest market for new investments in wind power in the world. Though a change in the national policy towards more sustainable energy sources is desirable, wind energy is not free from negative impacts. According to studies done in the temperate region, bats are negatively affected by wind farms, due to fatalities resulting from direct collision with the turbines or from barotrauma. If in many countries national and international laws follow guidelines for consideration of potential impacts of wind farms on bats, and even consider potential minimization and mitigation schemes, the Brazilian current normative for wind farm licencing presents vague approaches on this matter. With a few exceptions, states are the main responsible for the licencing processes. In this context, a joint initiative in Rio Grande do Sul, the state with the third highest wind power generation in Brazil, put together the Secretary of State for the Environment and Sustainable Development of Rio Grande do Sul, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and the Brazilian Society for the Study of Bats to set reference terms for consideration of bats in impact assessments of wind farms in the state. Consensus was built from a collaborative process resulting from a two-day workshop involving technicians and academics with expertise in bat biology, conservation and management. Guidelines were divided into pre-installation, construction, and operation phases, considering the decisions to make, potential impacts and relevant questions to answer, methodological and technical recommendations or constraints, and current gaps in knowledge. Here we describe this collaborative experience hoping it can be replicable in other Brazilian states and used by other potentially impacting sectors. With few adaptations and considering specificities in the regional bat fauna and environmental conditions, the proposed reference terms can be used elsewhere in Brazil.

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“…In terrestrial environments acoustic methods have been used most extensively on bats (e.g. Barros, Pessoa & Rui ; Kennedy, Sillett & Szewczak ; Whitby et al . ), particularly to study community diversity, but there has been recent interest in detecting primates (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Acoustic monitoring approaches are particularly suited for the study of animals or behaviours that are cryptic, for example, nocturnal species (e.g. De Solla et al 2006;Djossa, Zachee & Sinsin 2012;Barros, Pessoa & Rui 2014;Digby et al 2014;Zwart et al 2014), marine mammals (e.g. Marques et al 2013;Rogers et al 2013), and forest elephants (Thompson, Schwager & Payne 2009a;Wrege et al 2010Wrege et al , 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In terrestrial environments acoustic methods have been used most extensively on bats (e.g. Barros, Pessoa & Rui 2014;Kennedy, Sillett & Szewczak 2014;Whitby et al 2014), particularly to study community diversity, but there has been recent interest in detecting primates (e.g. Heinicke et al 2015;Kalan et al 2015), studying the ecology of, and human impacts on elephants (Wrege et al 2010(Wrege et al , 2012, and for surveys and density estimates of birds (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Acoustic monitoring for conservation in tropical forests: examples from forest elephants

et al. 2017

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Summary The accelerating loss of biodiversity worldwide demands effective tools for monitoring animal populations and informing conservation action. In habitats where direct observation is difficult (rain forests, oceans), or for cryptic species (shy, nocturnal), passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) provides cost‐effective, unbiased data collection. PAM has broad applicability in terrestrial environments, particularly tropical rain forests. Using examples from studies of forest elephants in Central African rain forest, we show how PAM can be used to investigate cryptic behaviour, mechanisms of communication, estimate population size, quantify threats, and assess the efficacy of conservation strategies. We discuss the methodologies, requirements, and challenges of obtaining these data using acoustics. Where applicable, we compare these methods to more traditional approaches. While PAM methods and associated analysis are maturing rapidly, mechanisms are needed for processing the dense raw data efficiently with standard computer hardware, speeding development of detection algorithms, and harnessing communication networks to move data from the field to research facilities. Passive acoustic monitoring is a viable and cost‐effective tool for conservation and should be incorporated in monitoring schemes much more broadly. The capability to quickly assess changes in behaviour, population size, and landscape use, simultaneously over large geographical areas, makes this approach attractive for detecting human‐induced impacts and for assessing the success of conservation strategies.

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Habitat use and seasonal activity of insectivorous bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the grasslands of southern Brazil

Cited by 35 publications

References 48 publications

Bat activity in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Kenya

Bat activity in the interior of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and adjacent farmlands in Kenya

Guidelines for Consideration of Bats in Environmental Impact Assessment of Wind Farms in Brazil: A Collaborative Governance Experience From Rio Grande Do Sul State

Acoustic monitoring for conservation in tropical forests: examples from forest elephants

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