Insectivorous bat assemblages in relation to spatial aspects of virgin jungle reserves in Peninsular Malaysia / Joann Christine Luruthusamy
The tropical region supports the highest diversity of bat fauna known. Reasons for their success are mainly due to their large geographical ranges, the diversity of habitats, various foraging strategies and the tendency to exhibit a variety of roosting behaviour. This study addresses the issue of...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
2010
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/3490/4/Title_page%2C_abstracts%2C_table_of_contents.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/3490/5/Full_chapters.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/3490/6/References.pdf http://www.pendeta.um.edu.my/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/57/5/3?searchdata1=850605{CKEY}&searchfield1=GENERAL^SUBJECT^GENERAL^^&user_id=WEBSERVER http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/3490/ |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The tropical region supports the highest diversity of bat fauna known. Reasons for their
success are mainly due to their large geographical ranges, the diversity of habitats,
various foraging strategies and the tendency to exhibit a variety of roosting behaviour.
This study addresses the issue of insectivorous bat distribution in relation to spatial
aspects such as geography, size, distance and topography. This information was gathered
from the 958 individuals and 27 insectivorous bat species that were captured and
identified over a span of 18 months. This study which included six virgin jungle reserves
of various sizes across Peninsular Malaysia revealed that the Peninsular is dominated
mainly by the Hipposiderids and Rhinolophids family and that bat species composition is
driven by elevational range and forest surroundings, and not by geography. As for the
effect of primary habitat size, this study showed that VJR size did not show any
correlation with insectivorous bat assemblages. The impact of VJR size class on its
surrounding logged over forest indicated that the population of bats 200 m away from the
VJR tend to increase with increasing VJR size but the proportion of bats furthest away
from the VJR (> 600 m) decreased. Although topography did not have an effect on bat
distribution within each site, bat abundance and species richness were the highest at the
valley. Despite the various aspects of a forest (topography, size, distance, etc.), there is no
one single reason behind bat species distribution, but an interaction of a few factors.
Different species tend to be most abundant around their environmental optimum.
Therefore conservation strategies should focus on determining a balance forest structure
for the survival of each bat species. |
|---|