Estrutura das comunidades de morcegos em fragmentos de Cerrado e Floresta Estacional Semidecidual na região de Pirassununga/SP
Resumo
Bats are important elements of the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes, considered
priority hotspots for conservation. Due to their great diversity and morphological
adaptations, they are pollinators, seed dispersers and pest controllers. They constitute
about a quarter of the mammalian fauna of the tropics, with 181 species for Brazil and 81
for the state of São Paulo, whose vegetation has undergone processes of great
exploitation. In this scenario, interspecific competition is described as a determining
factor in the community structure of bats that is shaped by time, space and feeding factors.
To understand the relationship between species and ecosystems, studies are needed to
identify and analyze how communities are structured in the environment. For the region
of Pirassununga/SP, Brazil, there is only the study by Silva (2017) on the survey of bat
species. Thus, the objective of this study was to conduct a survey of bat species existing
in the Cerrado and Semideciduous Seasonal Forest fragments of FAYS Farm, in the
municipality of Pirassununga, checking the species richness, diversity and similarity, in
addition to verifying how the bat community is structured in these two biomes. The study
site belongs to the Air Force Garrison, with 1173 ha of Seasonal Semideciduous Forest
and 827 ha of Cerrado. Six mist nets were used to capture the individuals four times per
month, each lasting four hours, for nine months. Identification of the captured species
was made with the aid of keys and identification guides, and after the necessary
information was recorded the animals were released at the same location, with the
exception of one specimen of each species that was placed in Museu de Zoologia da USP
in São Paulo, Brazil. The feces were analyzed in the laboratory to identify the items
consumed in the diet of the bat species. With a sampling effort of 1522 m²/h, 222
individuals of 18 species were captured, 16 of which occurred in the Semideciduous
Seasonal Forest and 13 in the Cerrado. The most abundant species were Carollia
perspicillata, Artibeus lituratus and Desmodus rotundus, with no significant difference
in capturability between the areas. The Phyllostomidae family was the most captured, due
to the mist net method in the understory. For the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest area, the
species richness indices showed that there are still more species to be sampled, a common
result in tropical environments. The communities of the two biomes are similar in terms
of species composition, with the Semideciduous Seasonal Forest being slightly more
diverse, due to the greater availability of resources. The number of captures showed no
significant relationship with mean temperature or mean relative humidity, but night
flights seem to be affecting the capturability. Females were captured in larger proportion
than males, and the breeding period seems to follow the availability of resources, which
fluctuates according to the months and environments. The frugivores of the
Phyllostomidae family were the most captured, and 17 plant species were identified, in
addition to insects and pollen as items belonging to the diet of all species collected. All
of them tended to start their activities soon after sunset, with differences between species
according to the food item consumed and the need to avoid competition for these items.
The species found are characteristic of environments with a certain degree of human
disturbance, and the results showed the importance of the species as pollinators, pest
controllers, and dispersers, especially of pioneer plants. In addition, they revealed the
presence of more species to be sampled, indicating the need for continued studies in this
area.
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