Spatial Determinants of Insectivorous Bat Diversity: Pattern and Process in a Paleotropical Rain Forest

食虫蝙蝠多样性的空间决定因素：古热带雨林的模式和过程

• 批准号: 0108384
• 负责人: Sucharita Gopal
• 金额: $ 38.02万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-08-01 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0108384&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Spatial; Determinants; Insectivorous; Bat; Diversity

Insectivorous bats are a highly diverse yet vulnerable component of vertebrate diversity in Old World rainforests. Nowhere is this more evident than in peninsular Malaysia, a critical country for bat conservation, with over 100 known species and local richness in excess of 50 species. Bats that are highly specialized and dependent on rainforests represent an exceptionally diverse group in Malaysia ( 40 species) and are of particular conservation concern. They are poorly suited for prey detection and forage in more open habitats that arise from disturbance events. As a consequence, they are likely to experience a severe decline in diversity as forest habitats are lost or become fragmented. This project will establish the Malaysian Bat Conservation Research Unit, comprising U.S. and Malaysian researchers. The mission of the unit includes: 1) long-term research on bat diversity and conservation; 2) the development and acquisition of skills and resources in the host country; and 3) implementation of a local and web-based education program to highlight the diversity and biology of bats, as well as the international importance of Malaysia to bat conservation. Research will focus on establishing how patterns of species abundance and distribution vary across space and time in undisturbed forest, and identifying the ecological processes that influence these patterns. To this end, we will intensively survey six bat communities within an area of contiguous primary forest and implement radio-tracking studies to test the influence of roosting and foraging ecology on bat abundance and distribution. Both research foci are key considerations for the development of conservation programs to protect this unique fauna.

昆虫蝙蝠是旧世界雨林中脊椎动物多样性的高度多样化但脆弱的组成部分。 没有比在马来西亚半岛的地方更明显的地方，马来西亚是一个关键的蝙蝠保护国家，有100多种已知物种和超过50种的局部丰富性。 高度专业化并取决于雨林的蝙蝠代表了马来西亚异常多样的群体（40种），特别是保护。 它们适合在骚乱事件引起的更开放的栖息地中适合猎物检测和觅食。 结果，随着森林栖息地丢失或破碎，他们可能会遭受多样性的严重下降。 该项目将建立由美国和马来西亚研究人员组成的马来西亚蝙蝠保护研究部门。 该部门的任务包括：1）关于蝙蝠多样性和保护的长期研究； 2）在东道国的技能和资源的发展和获取； 3）实施基于本地和网络的教育计划，以突出蝙蝠的多样性和生物学，以及马来西亚对蝙蝠保护的国际重要性。研究将着重于建立在不受干扰的森林中在空间和时间之间的物种丰度和分布模式如何变化，并确定影响这些模式的生态过程。为此，我们将在连续的原发性森林区域内对六个蝙蝠社区进行深入调查，并实施放射线跟踪研究，以测试栖息和觅食生态学对蝙蝠丰度和分布的影响。 这两种研究重点都是保护这种独特动物群的保护计划的主要考虑因素。