Physical conditions and microclimate of two Cynopterus species roosts in an abandoned village in Lambor, Perak
2020
Mohd Rani Ismail Hasnim | Kuo, Hao Chih | Shahrul Mohd Sah | Lim, Lee Sim
This study aimed to investigate the microclimate and physical conditions of the detected Cynopterus fruit bats’ roosts in an abandoned village, west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Two abandoned wooden houses as permanent bat roosts were selected: one at an exposed spot with higher damaged condition; another one was less damaged and covered with wild vegetation. Bats were trapped in their roost, identified as Cynopterus horsfieldii and Cynopterus brachyotis. Microclimate conditions of both bat roosts were recorded twice at 08:00 and 12:00 each day for seven weeks. Microclimate analyses show the more covered roost had significant lower mean for roost temperature, light intensity, and wind speed than the more exposed roost, but no significant difference between the humidity of both roosts. Daily roost counts at noon reveals more Cynopterus bat individuals roosting at the less exposed and isolated roost consistently during the study, indicates this genus still prefer a more sheltered roost without human activities despite having adapted well to urbanisation. Our findings from this study and site observations on the returning wildlife suggested this abandoned anthropocene with vegetation regrowth has potential to be a refuge to forest bats and wildlife that are suffering from habitat loss yet cannot fully adapt to anthropogenic habitat.
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