BATS IN ALTERED LANDSCAPES: LANDSCAPE INFLUENCE AND IMPACTS ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

• Grant number: 23/12701-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Camargo Martensen
• Grantee: Jailson Vieira Gomes
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências da Natureza (CCN). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Campus de Lagoa do Sino. Buri , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/20501-8 - Governing the Atlantic Forest transition: improving our knowledge on forest recovery for ecosystem services, AP.BTA.JP

Abstract

Changes in the landscape, such as deforestation, land conversion for agriculture, pastureland, and urbanization, lead to significant biodiversity losses. Understanding how species respond to these changes is crucial. The central objective of this study is to assess patterns of occupancy, richness, composition, and structure of bat communities in relation to landscape characteristics. Data will be collected in 6 landscapes with different land uses, measuring landscape metrics in the R programming environment, with the following independent variables: size and number of fragments, percentage of native vegetation, average fragment size, distance between them, and perimeter-to-area ratio, landscape heterogeneity, among others. Bat vocalizations will be recorded by autonomous AudioMoth recorders and analyzed using the Kaleidoscope program (v. 5.6.1). Parameters such as call duration, frequency modulation, minimum and maximum frequencies, maximum energy frequency, pulse interval, and bandwidth will be used to identify species. The influence of landscape variables on habitat use by identified species will be modeled for each species and for the communities as a whole, with models evaluated through the model selection process (AICc). We expect to understand the effects of habitat quantity, landscape heterogeneity, and configuration on bat presence and, consequently, on the ecosystem services they provide (e.g., seed dispersal, pest control, etc.), aiming to support biodiversity conservation and landscape management strategies.