Diversity of Bats in Contrasting Habitats of Hulu Terengganu Dipterocarp Forest and Setiu Wetland BRIS Forest with a Note on Preliminary Study of Vertical Stratification of Pteropodid Bats

Abstract

A study of the bat diversity was conducted in Hulu Terengganu dipterocarp forest and Setiu Wetland Beach Ridges Interspersed with Swales (BRIS) forest in Terengganu, to study the species diversity, composition and stratification of fruit bats from the understorey to the forest canopy. Mist nets were set up at the understorey, sub-canopy and canopy layer while harp traps were set up at the understorey layer. We recorded 170 individuals from six families’ compromised 21 species from Hulu Terengganu dipterocarp forests and four species from Setiu Wetland BRIS forests throughout the sampling period. Megaerops ecaudatus and Cynopterus brachyotis were the most dominant species in Hulu Terengganu dipterocarp forest and Setiu Wetland BRIS forests. Our study also recorded two species with new distributional records for the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Rhinolophus chiewkweeae and Chaerephon johorensis in Hulu Terengganu dipterocarp forests. Potential factors that might influence the results were in terms of the canopy covers, the structural complexity of canopy, food availability and spatial characteristics. This study was able to increase the knowledge on the species diversity and composition of bats in Hulu Terengganu dipterocarp forest and Setiu Wetland BRIS forest, thus, further aid in the effort of bat conservation in both areas.

Linkages between Chiropteran diversity and ecosystem services for sustainable fragmented forest conservation

“… Note: The status of all bats are ‘Least Concern’ unless marked with * to indicate it as ‘Not Evaluated’ in the IUCN Red List. New records are shown with ‘N’ for their absence even in the most recent study by Pounsin et al [1] . Sites for field visits are abbreviated as SW = Saok Waterfalls, LW = Lasir Waterfalls, GTFR = Gunung Tebu Forest Reserve and SRS = Setiu Research Station.…”

Compendium of hand, foot and mouth disease data in Malaysia from years 2010–2017

“…Notably, all nucleotide ascensions were sorted by period of publication, from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2018. Information related to molecular ecology were first divided by ascension numbers and location sources [11] , [12] . The crude data were then filtered and sorted first [13] , [14] , [15] before adapted with hierarchy-identification code system [16] , [17] to ease data comprehension and also extraction.…”