Monik Oprea

Do wooded streets provide connectivity for bats in an urban landscape

The effects of urbanization on bats are poorly understood, but published data suggests it might be detrimental to them. Even though urban parks provide refuge to native biota, the nature of the urban landscape exacerbates the insularization process. In order to evaluate if wooded streets in an urban landscape provide connectivity for bats, we compared bat community structure in three different types of habitats: urban parks, wooded streets and non-wooded streets. Sampling occurred monthly from August 2006 to July 2007 in the city of Vitória, southeastern Brazil. Richness, relative abundance and diversity were higher in urban parks and lower in non-wooded streets. Jaccard’s similarity index showed that the wooded streets are more similar to non-wooded streets than to urban parks. Urbanization may benefit generalist species by providing new resources, but for specialist species critical resources may be lost and persistence endangered. There is evidence that wooded streets may provide some degree of connectivity for birds in urban landscapes, but our results suggest that this is not the case, with wooded streets being used by few individuals of a few species. Vegetation cover is important to maintain bat diversity in urban centers. Activities like landscape planning and gardening should include biodiversity data in their outputs in order to better design a landscape that improves the likelihood of persistence of bats.

A note on the diet and foraging behavior of Artibeus lituratus (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) in an urban park in southeastern Brazil

Bats of the genus Artibeus are among the most important seed dispersers in early successional forests. We report observations on the foraging behavior of Artibeus lituratus in Pedra da Cebola Municipal Park, an urban park in the city of Vitoria, Espirito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Observations were made during six consecutive days (April 1st to April 6th, 2006). Three mist-nets were opened each night close to a Maclura tinctoria tree (Moraceae), remaining open from 18:00 to 22:00, totaling four hours per night, and 24 hours of sampling effort. We observed two peaks of feeding activity at the tree, one between 18:20 and 19:30, and a second one at 21:00. This is the first observation of Artibeus lituratus feeding on M. tinctoria fruits, therefore adding a new item to the known diet of the species. M. tinctoria fruits have large seeds that are not swallowed by bats, they consume the fruit pulp and discard the seeds. A diet of fruits with large seeds may indicate an important resource not detected in dietary studies based on fecal samples, but better detected by direct observation or by studying feeding roosts. It is important to use different sampling techniques in dietary studies since they complement each other and, together, provide a better knowledge on the diet of bats.

Anoura caudifer (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

Abstract Anoura caudifer (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818) is a phyllostomid commonly called the tailed tailless bat. This is a relatively small species with an elongated muzzle, a long and protractile tongue, and generally dark brown pelage; it is 1 of 8 species in the genus Anoura. It occurs in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina. This species is a habitat generalist occurring in mesic tropical forests from sea level to 1,500 m elevation. It is frequently captured in many locations along its geographical distribution and it is not considered of special conservation concern.

New record of Lasiurus blossevillii (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) for the restinga ecosystem, and second occurrence for the state of Espirito Santo, southeastern Brazil

No abstract available