Richness, diversity and abundance of bats in small forest fragments of the Atlantic Forest in northern Parana, Brazil

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the correlation between the size of four forest fragments in northern Paraná with the richness, diversity and relative abundance of bats community. Monthly collections were performed for each fragment from July 2008 to June 2009, with the use of eight mist nets, comprising 160 m2 of exhibition area, totaling 192 hours. The capture effort was equal to 7,680 m2/h. The richness was analyzed according to the number of species, the diversity was obtained by the Shannon-Wiener index and the relative abundance was calculated by dividing the total of individuals captured by the captures effort. Simple linear regressions were performed to verify the effect of the independent variable in relation to ecological parameters mentioned above. The largest fragment had a higher abundance and higher gross value of diversity index. It is possible that the adult individuals of uncommon species be the last in the area and that, due to the reduction of their habitats, their local populations will disappear in the future. Therefore, the maintenance of fragments, regardless of size, is essential for the conservation of bat communities.