Effects of land‐use change on functional and taxonomic diversity of Neotropical bats

Farneda, F; Meyer, CFJ; Grelle, CEV

Abstract

Human land-use changes are particularly extensive in tropical regions, representing one of the greatest threats to terrestrial biodiversity and a key research topic in conservation. However, studies considering the effects of different types of anthropogenic disturbance on the functional dimension of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes are rare. Here, we obtained data through an extensive review of peer-reviewed articles and compared 30 Neotropical bat assemblages in well-preserved primary forest and four different human-disturbed habitats in terms of their functional and taxonomic diversity. We found that disturbed habitats that are structurally less similar to primary forest (pasture, cropland and early-stage secondary forest) were characterized by a lower functional and taxonomic diversity, as well as community level-functional uniqueness. These habitats generally retained fewer species that perform different ecological functions compared to higher-quality landscape matrices, such as agroforestry. According to functional trait composition, different bat ensembles respond differently to landscape change, negatively affecting mainly gleaning insectivorous bats in pasture, narrow-range species in cropland, and heavier animalivorous bats in secondary forest. Although our results highlight the importance of higher-quality matrix habitats to support elevated functional and taxonomic bat diversity, the conservation of bat species that perform different ecological functions in the mosaic of human-modified habitats also depends on the irreplaceable conservation value of well-preserved primary forests. Our study based on a pooled analysis of individual studies provides novel insights into the effects of different human-modified habitats on Neotropical bat assemblages.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 28, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Dec 3, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 3, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 3, 2020
• Journal: Biotropica
• Print ISSN: 0006-3606
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-7429
• Publisher: Wiley
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 120-128
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12736
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/btp.12736
• Related Public URLs: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17447429
• Additional Information: Funders : Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES);Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)