Bat species richness and community composition along a mega-transect in the Okavango river basin:

The Okavango River Basin is a hotspot of bat diversity that requires urgent and adequate protection. To advise future conservation strategies, we investigated the relative importance of a range of potential environmental drivers of bat species richness and functional community composition in the Okavango River Basin. During annual canoe transects along the major rivers, originating in the central Angolan highlands, we recorded more than 25,000 bat echolocation calls from 2015 to 2018. We corrected for possible biases in sampling design and effort

The use of bat houses as day roosts in macadamia orchards, South Africa

The loss of roost sites is one of the major drivers of the worldwide decline in bat populations and roost site preferences, either natural or artificially provided, are not well known for African bat species specifically. In this study we focus on the preference for different artificial roost sites by insectivorous bats in macadamia orchards in northern South Africa. From June 2016 to July 2017 we monitored 31 bat houses, mounted on poles in six macadamia orchards, for presence of bats or other occupants. Twenty-one multi-chambered bat houses of three different designs were erected in sets of three. Additionally, five Rocket boxes, four bat houses in sets of two (painted black and white) and one colony bat house were erected. Bats were counted and visually identified to family or species level. From December 2016 to the end of March 2017 iButtons were installed to record and analyze temperature variation within one set of three bat houses. We related the occupancy of bat houses to the different types of houses and the environmental variables: distance to water, altitude and height of the bat houses above the ground. Overall bat house occupancy was significantly higher in the central bat house, in the set of three, and the black bat house, in the set of two. Mean temperatures differed between houses in the set of three with the central bat house having a significantly higher mean temperature than the houses flanking it. Our study might confirm previous assumptions that the microclimate of bat houses appears to be an important factor influencing occupancy. In conclusion, from the different bat houses tested in this study the designs we assume the warmest and best insulated attracted the most bats. Further research is needed on the preferred microclimate of different bat species, co-habitation within bat houses and the potential importance of altitude and distance to water. Our study provided little variation in both altitude and the distance to water

Changes of bat species composition over altitudinal gradients on northern and southern aspects of the Soutpansberg mountain range, South Africa.

In order to gain insight into the pattern of bat species composition over altitude and the environmental variables driving the observed pattern, we compared data from moist southern and drier northern aspects of the Soutpansberg range in northern South Africa. Acoustical monitoring and additional capturing of bats was used for analysis of species distribution patterns and comparisons of community composition. Bat activity generally followed a linear decline with increasing altitude, possibly related to reproductive females preferring lower altitudes. Species richness followed a hump-shaped distribution on the northern aspect and across the transect, whereas a pattern of a linear decline was observed on the southern aspect. Our study strongly supports a previously published climate model for insectivorous bats which assumes that water availability linked with temperature determines the shape of altitudinal distribution in bat species. Step-wise selection from multiple regression models retained habitat type and/or measures of habitat structure in all final models, supporting several other studies in that vegetation correlated to altitude is a primary determinant of bat species distribution over altitude. This study also supports that the Soutpansberg is a biodiversity hotspot for bats and emphasises that conservation efforts should by no means ignore the lower altitudes

Tapping into technology and the biodiversity informatics revolution : updated terrestrial mammal list of Angola, with new records from the Okavango basin

Using various sources, including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), published literature, recent (2015–2017) collections, as well as bat detector and camera trap surveys with opportunistic sightings and live capture in the upper Okavango catchment in central Angola, we present an updated mammal checklist of 275 species from 15 different orders for Angola (including the Cabinda region). Recent surveys (captures and bat detectors) of small mammals from the upper Okavango catchment yielded 46 species (33 species of bats, ten species of rodents and three species of shrews). One bat (Pipistrellus rusticus, rusty pipistrelle); two rodents (Mus setzeri, Setzer’s mouse and Zelotomys woosnami, Woosnam’s broad-faced mouse) and one shrew (Suncus varilla, lesser dwarf shrew) were captured for the first time, in Angola. While our species lists of bats conformed to predicted totals, terrestrial small mammals were under sampled, with only 13 species recorded by our trapping survey compared to a total of 42 shrew and rodent species expected based on GBIF records for the central Angolan highlands. Seven terrestrial small mammal species (one shrew and six rodents) are endemic to the central and western Angolan highlands but none of these were captured in our survey. The bat detector surveys added three further bat species to the country list: Pipistrellus hesperidus, Kerivoula argentata, and Mops midas. Camera trap surveys and opportunistic sightings in the upper Okavango catchment in 2016 yielded a total of 35 species of medium-large mammals, from 17 families, although all of these had been reported previously in Angola. GBIF proved to be an excellent source of biodiversity data for Angolan mammals, most importantly for documenting dramatic historical range changes of larger mammals such as the sable (Hippotragus niger niger), Kirk’s sable (H. niger kirkii) and the giant sable (H. niger variani).The National Geographic Society through the Okavango Wilderness Project, under the logistical support of the Wild Bird Trust.http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeysam2019Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa’s major land uses

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of an ‘intact’ reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region’s major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.) and intensities (e.g., large-scale vs smallholder cropland). This dataset was co-produced as part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project. Additional uses include assessing ecosystem condition; rectifying geographic/ taxonomic biases in global biodiversity indicators and maps; and informing the Red List of Ecosystems

Tapping into technology and the biodiversity informatics revolution: updated terrestrial mammal list of Angola, with new records from the Okavango Basin

Using various sources, including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), published literature, recent (2015–2017) collections, as well as bat detector and camera trap surveys with opportunistic sightings and live capture in the upper Okavango catchment in central Angola, we present an updated mammal checklist of 275 species from 15 different orders for Angola (including the Cabinda region). Recent surveys (captures and bat detectors) of small mammals from the upper Okavango catchment yielded 46 species (33 species of bats, ten species of rodents and three species of shrews). One bat (Pipistrellus rusticus, rusty pipistrelle); two rodents (Mus setzeri, Setzer’s mouse and Zelotomys woosnami, Woosnam’s broad-faced mouse) and one shrew (Suncus varilla, lesser dwarf shrew) were captured for the first time, in Angola. While our species lists of bats conformed to predicted totals, terrestrial small mammals were under sampled, with only 13 species recorded by our trapping survey compared to a total of 42 shrew and rodent species expected based on GBIF records for the central Angolan highlands. Seven terrestrial small mammal species (one shrew and six rodents) are endemic to the central and western Angolan highlands but none of these were captured in our survey. The bat detector surveys added three further bat species to the country list: Pipistrellus hesperidus, Kerivoula argentata, and Mops midas. Camera trap surveys and opportunistic sightings in the upper Okavango catchment in 2016 yielded a total of 35 species of medium-large mammals, from 17 families, although all of these had been reported previously in Angola. GBIF proved to be an excellent source of biodiversity data for Angolan mammals, most importantly for documenting dramatic historical range changes of larger mammals such as the sable (Hippotragus niger niger), Kirk’s sable (H. niger kirkii) and the giant sable (H. niger variani)

Data from: Ecosystem services and disservices by birds, bats and monkeys change with macadamia landscape heterogeneity

1.The relative importance of ecosystem services and disservices can change with landscape structure in a poorly understood way. 2.We compare the impact of biocontrol, provided by bats and birds, with that of crop raiding by vervet monkeys on yield in South African macadamia orchards. Insectivorous bats and birds are known to feed on macadamia pest insect species, like the macadamia nut borer or the green vegetable bug. Vervet monkeys move into the orchards during the day to feed on premature macadamia nuts. Bats, birds and monkeys benefit from patches of natural vegetation adjacent to orchards. 3.With exclusion experiments (four treatments: day, night, day & night, control) we quantified the relative importance of biocontrol and crop raiding on yield, comparing two different landscape settings of the orchards, a natural and a human‐modified. 4.Crop raiding occurred only close to natural vegetation and caused yield losses of about 26%. Biocontrol by bats and birds was higher near natural vegetation, but still significant in human‐modified landscapes, at up to 530m distance to forest patches. Prevented biocontrol through the exclusion of bats and birds resulted in yield losses of up to 60%. 5.Effects of biocontrol by bats and birds (USD ~5000/ha/yr) were economically more important than the losses of crop raiding (USD ~1600/ha/yr). As both are linked to the vicinity of forest patches, the removal of natural vegetation to limit monkey abundances would also limit biocontrol service provision. 6.Synthesis and applications. This study highlights the high economic benefits of biocontrol by bats and birds, which outweighed negative impacts through yield losses caused by crop‐raiding monkeys. Management practices to prevent crop damage, such as guarding, excluding vertebrates or removal of adjacent natural vegetation, would also limit access for bats and birds and the great economic benefits provided by their biocontrol. Ecosystem services by bats and birds can be promoted by the exposure of artificial roost and nest sites, but research into species‐specific preferences is needed. The education of farmers is crucial, as many are unaware of the benefits from birds and bats and the fact that these benefits can outweigh the disadvantages of the monkeys’ crop‐raiding

Linden-JAPPL-2019

Excel file with raw data sheets for nut quality and yield measures