Abstract
Which functional traits allow a bat species to survive habitat disturbance? Empirical evidence regarding this question remains limited for many tropical regions despite their importance for conservation. Here, we used body mass, wing morphology, trophic level, and diet to identify which traits make phyllostomid bat species more vulnerable to human impacts in the Colombian Orinoco Llanos. Bats were sampled using mist nets in riparian forests, unflooded forests, flooded savannahs, and conventional rice crops on traditional farmlands with high-intensity agriculture and in private reserves with greater ecosystem protection. We tested the associations between species traits and landscape-structure variables (habitat cover and type, number of habitat patches, shortest distance to water) using RLQ and fourth-corner analyses, accounting for both spatial and phylogenetic autocorrelation. Trophic level and diet were the most important traits linked to disturbance sensitivity. Our results indicated that rice crop cover, savannah patches, and altered unflooded forest act as a filter, benefiting disturbance-adapted frugivorous genera in farmlands (e.g., Artibeus spp., Carollia spp., Platyrrhinus spp., Uroderma spp.). Conversely, animalivorous species were strongly associated with savannah cover and riparian forests within reserves (e.g., Lampronycteris brachyotis, Lophostoma brasiliense, Micronycteris minuta, Trachops cirrhosus). Encouraging the creation of more wildlife-friendly landscapes through payments for ecosystem services across the Colombian Llanos will ensure the long-term persistence of disturbance-sensitive species and sustain a complete set of ecological functions and ecosystem services that these bats provide.
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Data availability
Data on species functional traits: uploaded as online supporting information (Table S1).
Environmental descriptors of the study sites: uploaded as online supporting information (Table S2).
Bat species occupancy and abundance change: uploaded as online supporting information (Table S3).
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Grupo en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre, and Instituto de Ciencias Naturales at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Sede Bogotá) for support of equipment and field supplies. The following people helped with fieldwork: Jessica Blanco, Yuri Chantre, Andrés Julián Lozano, Jonatan Caro Montoya, Daniela Amórtegui, Sara Acosta Morales, Daniela Reyes, and María Fernanda Monguí. We thank Romeo Saldaña-Vásquez and one anonymous reviewer for insightful comments. We are grateful to Stéphane Dray for insights concerning the “fourthcorner” and “msr” R-functions, Hernán Serrano for the help with cartographic analysis, Camila Valdés-Cardona with the R package “landscapemetrics”, Mary Choperena with the ethical endorsement, Fundación Natura Colombia with the receipt and transfer of the grant, and to landowners of the private reserves and farmlands for logistic support.
Funding
AOA and FZF were supported by a post-doctoral fellowship (MinCiencias call No. 848 of 2019 and “Convocatoria de Estancias Posdoctorales en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Sede Medellín 2021”, respectively). Actually, FZF is a “Bolsista CAPES/BRASIL”. Project funding was provided by the “Neotropical Grassland Conservancy” and “The Rufford Foundation (Project 35308-1)” to AOA.
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A.O-A. and F.Z.F. designed research; F.Z.F. and A.O-A. performed the landscape/statistical analyses and F.Z.F. led the writing of the manuscript, supported mainly by A.O-A. and C.F.J.M.; A.O-A. and F.Z.F. collected data; A.O-A. and F.Z.F. carried out the field expeditions, funding acquisition and project administration. C.G-P. gave support from Instituto Alexander von Humboldt and H.F.L-A. and J.P. from Colombia National University as project supervisors. All authors contributed critically to the drafts, gave final approval for publication, and do not have any conflict of interest to declare.
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Otálora-Ardila, A., Farneda, F.Z., Meyer, C.F.J. et al. Trait-mediated filtering predicts phyllostomid bat responses to habitat disturbance in the Orinoco Llanos. Biodivers Conserv 33, 1285–1302 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02792-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02792-2