Enhancing sampling design in mist-net bat surveys by accounting for sample size optimization

The advantages of mist-netting, the main technique used in Neotropical bat community studies to date, include logistical implementation, standardization and sampling representativeness. Nonetheless, study designs still have to deal with issues of detectability related to how different species behave and use the environment. Yet there is considerable sampling heterogeneity across available studies in the literature. Here, we approach the problem of sample size optimization. We evaluated the common sense hypothesis that the first six hours comprise the period of peak night activity for several species, thereby resulting in a representative sample for the whole night. To this end, we combined re-sampling techniques, species accumulation curves, threshold analysis, and community concordance of species compositional data, and applied them to datasets of three different Neotropical biomes (Amazonia, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado). We show that the strategy of restricting sampling to only six hours of the night frequently results in incomplete sampling representation of the entire bat community investigated. From a quantitative standpoint, results corroborated the existence of a major Sample Area effect in all datasets, although for the Amazonia dataset the six-hour strategy was significantly less species-rich after extrapolation, and for the Cerrado dataset it was more efficient. From the qualitative standpoint, however, results demonstrated that, for all three datasets, the identity of species that are effectively sampled will be inherently impacted by choices of sub-sampling schedule. We also propose an alternative six-hour sampling strategy (at the beginning and the end of a sample night) which performed better when resampling Amazonian and Atlantic Forest datasets on bat assemblages. Given the observed magnitude of our results, we propose that sample representativeness has to be carefully weighed against study objectives, and recommend that the trade-off between logistical constraints and additional sampling performance should be carefully evaluated

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ

Recolonização de uma área restaurada por morcegos da família Phyllostomidae: padrões de diversidade e uso do espaço

A restauração florestal é vista como importante forma de mitigação do processo histórico de perda de biodiversidade na Floresta Atlântica. Recentemente, houve um aumento no número de projetos de restauração ecológica com foco no estabelecimento de uma comunidade sustentável, impulsionada pela dinâmica sucessional. A avaliação do sucesso destes projetos depende de seu monitoramento através de indicadores que permitam analisar o reestabelecimento desta dinâmica. Este monitoramento ainda é uma prática recente, comumente relacionada a estudos sobre estrutura e composição da vegetação, e estudos que contemplem componentes da fauna ainda são escassos. Neste contexto, morcegos da família Phyllostomidae são excelentes modelos de estudo, pois apresentam características ecológicas que fazem deste grupo um potencial indicador da restauração de processos ecológicos em áreas em recuperação, especialmente nos estágios iniciais de sucessão. Visando suprir essa lacuna, no presente estudo, espécies deste grupo taxonômico foram escolhidas como modelos para se responder perguntas referentes aos efeitos da recuperação de uma área de floresta Atlântica que se encontra em processo de restauração ecológica. O projeto tem sete anos de idade, e foi desenvolvido no município de Mogi Guaçú/SP. No capítulo 1, através de caracterização temporal da assembléia de morcegos filostomídeos, abordamos a seguinte questão: está havendo recolonização da área por estas espécies? Com os resultados obtidos pudemos demonstrar que a as mudanças sucessionais observadas na vegetação da área recuperada após quatros da implantação do projeto resultaram em alterações na assembléia de morcegos filostomideos, sugerindo a recolonização da área. Por outro lado, concluímos que a assembléia estudada se apresentava uma estrutura em estágio intermediário entre assembléias...Forest Restoration is seen as an important way to mitigate the historical process of biodiversity loss in the Atlantic Forest. Recently, there has been an increase in the development of Ecological Restoration projects focusing on the establishment of a selfsustainable community, driven by successional dynamics. Evaluation of the success of these projects depends on its monitoring through indicators that allow us to analyze the reestablishment of this dynamics. This is a recent practice, commonly related to studies of vegetation structure and composition, and studies that contemplate faunal components are scarce. In this context, Phyllostomidae bats are thougth to be excelent study models. Because of their ecological features they are potential indicators of the restoring of ecological processes in rehabilitated areas, particularly in the initial stages of succession. In order to fill this gap, in the present study, species from this taxonomic group were selected as models to answer questions related to the effects of the rehabilitation of an Atlantic Forest area that is in the process of ecological restoration. The restoration projetc is seven years old, and is located in the municipality of Mogi Guaçú, State of São Paulo. In Chapter 1, through a temporal characterization of the Phyllostomidae bat species assemblage, we adressed the following question: is there a recolonization of the area by species from this taxonomic group? With the obtained results, we showed that, after four years, the successional changes which the area has been submmited to resulted in changes in the Phyllostomidae bat assemblage, suggesting species recolonization of the area. On the other hand, we concluded that the studied assemblage presented a structure in an intermediate stage between degrated areas and native forest remnants. In Chapter 2, we present the use of foraging and roosting habitat... (Complete abstract click electronic access below

Combining connectivity and species distribution modeling to define conservation and restoration priorities for multiple species:A case study in the eastern Amazon

Increasing the connectivity of protected areas is an urgent need to ensure the conservation of forest species and help them to shift their ranges due to anthropogenic drivers. However, efforts to do so considering the joint effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change are still scant. Here, we aimed to outline a framework that incorporates spatial, temporal and multi-taxa criteria to pinpoint locations that connect protected areas in the eastern Amazon. We analyzed three mosaics of protected areas, and data on 603 species (bees, birds, bats) and developed two models using species movement flow (MF; through circuit theory) and habitat suitability (HS; through species distribution models). Considering only the MF, northward areas are the main candidates for corridors, most of which presenting forest cover (68% of the 928,379 ha). This result changes when we analyze the HS, since the corridors are mostly positioned in a different direction (westward) and less than half have forest cover (45% of the 925,058 ha). Candidate areas for both approaches totaled 135,171 ha, with 86% still covered by forest. Our results rely on methodological and taxonomic redundancy (to depict a range of movement and/or habitat requirements) for an efficient strategy to prioritize areas for connectivity. Dynamic restoration simulations showed that the location and order of restoration are important to ensure increased availability of habitat. Our approach can help address two important biodiversity threats (habitat loss and climate change) and maximize the selection of the best corridors to protect species in a rapidly changing world

Role of species: traits, interactions and ecosystem services

Understanding the role that species play in their environment is a fundamental goal of biodiversity research, bringing knowledge on ecosystem maintenance and in provision of ecosystem services. Different types of interaction that different species establish with their partners regulate the functioning of ecosystems (McCann 2007). Interactions between plants and pollinators (Potts et al. 2016) and between plants and seed dispersers (Wang and Smith 2002) are examples of mutualism, crucial to the maintenance of the floristic composition and overall biodiversity in different biomes. They also illustrate well the nature's contribution to people, supporting ecosystem services with key economic consequences, such as pollination of agricultural crops (Klein et al. 2007) and seed dispersal of natural or assisted restoration of degraded areas (Wunderle 1997). Interactions are mediated by different functional traits (morphological and/or behavioral characteristics of organisms that influence their performance) (Ball et al. 2015). As the zoochorous transfer of pollen grains and seeds usually involves contact, the success of pollination and seed dispersal depends to a large extend on the relationship of size and morphology between flower/fruit and their respective pollinator/seed disperser. Selected over a long history of shared evolutionary history, it is feasible to rely on the predictive potential these traits may have to determine if a certain animal is able to transfer pollen grains and/or seeds of specific plants in the landscape (Howe 2016). Biodiversity is facing constant negative impacts, especially related to climate and habitat changes. They are threatening the provision of ecosystem services, jeopardizing the basic premise of sustainable development, which is to guarantee resources for future generations. The novel landscapes that result from these impacts will certainly be dependent of these ecosystem services, but will they persist in face of extinctions and invasive competitors? Ultimately, will these services be predicable by functional traits, in landscapes where shared evolutionary history is reduced? Strategies that help our understanding of the interactions and their role in the provision of services are urgent (Corlett 2011). Given this context, our objective here is to present the type of data that, if made available, could assist in determining the role of species in terms of the interactions they make and the provision of ecosystem services. Moreover, we aimed to elucidate how this role can be associated with functional traits. The current work focuses on the following groups: plants, birds, bats and bees (Fig. 1). Of particular interest are interactions involving: pollination, which is carried out predominantly by bees, but also by nectarivorous birds and bats; and seed dispersal, mainly carried out by frugivorous birds and bats. These interactions are mediated by key traits. In plants, common flower traits are the aperture, color, odor strength and type, shape orientation, size and symmetry, nectar guide and sexual organ, and reward. Fruit or seed traits, such as fleshy nutrient, chemical attractant and clinging structures, are also relevant for seed dispersal. In animals the most common traits are the body size (for bees, the intertegular distance; for bats, forearm length; and for birds, the weight), gape-width for birds and the feeding habit (nectarivorous, frugivorous, omnivorous) for bats and birds. Providing standardized data on traits involving interactions between fauna and flora is important to fill knowledge gaps, which could help in the decision making processes aiming conservation, restoration and management programs for protecting ecosystem services based on biodiversity