Abundância e diversidade de filostomídeos (Chiroptera/Phyllostomidae) em quatro fragmentos da Zona da Mata Mineira e horário de atividade de seis espécies de morcegos em dois fragmentos florestais urbanos

Abstract

The habitat fragmentation and alteration of the remaining forests are considered as the main causes of the decline in the neotropical bats diversity. Nevertheless, there are few studies reporting the effects of the habitat loss in the bats assemblages, and also explaining how these animals are exploiting the available resources in their home ranges. Due to the large number of species and the diversity of food habits, the bats of the Phyllostomidae family are considered good ecologic models to study the effects of habitat fragmentation on the bats communities. Furthermore, the methodology used to study bats allows a relative easy manner to gathering data and also provides a wide sampling of these animals. The aims of this study were to assess and compare the abundance and diversity of the Phyllostomidae bats in four forested fragments located at the Zona da Mata Mineira; and characterize the hourly and monthly activity of six species of phyllostomid bats in two urban forested fragments located at Juiz de Fora city. Two nights of captures per month, between March and October 2008, were performed in each area, totaling 11.952 m2hours of sampling effort in FAEFID and MAPRO, 11.520 m2hours in Fazenda Floresta and 11.088 m2hours in the Mata do Benedito. 396 bats were captured, distributed in eleven species of the Phyllostomidae family, which the frugivores were most representative. The Fazenda Floresta presented the greatest species diversity , H '= 1.51, and the lowest dominance, D = 0.30, when compared to the other sampled areas. Moreover, the capture of Chrotopterus auritus (Peters, 1856) and Mimon benettii (Gray, 1838) in the Fazenda Floresta, both species considered as ecologic indicators of undisturbed areas, highlights the quality of the habitat and the conservation status presented in the area.. In the opposite, urban and disturbed fragments presented an increase in the dominance of one or two species in relation to the other captured, of which the frugivorous species Artibeus lituratus (Olfers, 1818) and Sturnira lilium (E. Geoffroy, 1810) were the most abundant. The results of the cluster analysis grouped distinctly the urban fragments as a separated group from the periurban and rural fragments, which were considered another group. Analyzing theactivity patterns of six phyllostomid species in the two urban fragments of Juiz de Fora, we suggest that species with the same food preferences are overlapping their activity patterns. This study reported that in disturbed fragments, there is change in the composition of the bat assemblages, with an increase in the dominance of some species, especially for those with greater food plasticity, and this change is related to the quality of the remaining forested fragments. We also suggest the importance to maintain the conservative status of fragments and the development of ecologic corridors connecting fragments to

increase the movement of species, the resources availability, and to sustain the equilibrium between the extant bat species.