Changes in activity along the year in a community of insectivorous bats inhabiting a montane ecosystem of central Mexico
2022
Ayala-Berdon, Jorge | Vázquez-Fuerte, Rommy | Guillén-Servent, Antonio | López-Cuamatzi, Issachar L. | Martínez-Gómez, Margarita
Bats provide fundamental ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal, and insect control. Yet, little is known about their ecology in montane ecosystems embedded in the tropics. We estimated the activity patterns and species richness throughout the year in three habitats of insectivorous bats in a montane ecosystem of central Mexico. To our knowledge, this is the first acoustic monitoring that has been conducted in a mountainous region in central Mexico and the second one conducted in a mountain embedded in America. We recorded 491 bat passes belonging to ten species of the families Vespertilionidae, Mormoopidae, and Molossidae. Four species accounted for 91% of the total activity registered: Myotis volans, M. velifer, M. californicus, and Eptesicus fuscus. Overall activity depended on the time of night, month, habitat, and season. Species composition of the community assemblage of bats among the different habitats was similar, indicating that many individuals would make movements along the habitats present at the mountain. These differences were probably driven by bats exploiting prey availability, which could be determined by the environmental factors present at the different habitats of the park. In this work, some important species were not detected by the acoustic monitoring, indicating that bat captures would complement acoustic surveys and provide a more comprehensive overview of species composition and richness.
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