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.

食虫蝙蝠是旧大陆热带雨林脊椎动物多样性的一个高度多样化但又脆弱的组成部分。这一点在马来西亚半岛最为明显，马来西亚是蝙蝠保护的关键国家，有100多个已知物种，当地物种丰富，超过50个物种。高度专门化和依赖热带雨林的蝙蝠在马来西亚是一个异常多样化的群体(40种)，特别受到保护关注。它们不太适合在更开放的栖息地寻找猎物和觅食，这些栖息地是由干扰事件引起的。因此，随着森林栖息地的丧失或变得支离破碎，它们可能会经历多样性的严重下降。该项目将建立马来西亚蝙蝠保护研究小组，由美国和马来西亚的研究人员组成。该小组的任务包括：1)对蝙蝠多样性和保护进行长期研究；2)在东道国开发和获得技能和资源；3)实施当地和基于网络的教育计划，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。研究将侧重于确定物种丰度和分布模式如何在未受干扰的森林中随空间和时间变化，并确定影响这些模式的生态过程。为此，我们将在一个毗连的原始森林区域内密集调查6个蝙蝠群落，并进行无线电跟踪研究，以测试栖息和觅食生态对蝙蝠数量和分布的影响。这两个研究重点都是制定保护计划以保护这一独特动物的关键考虑因素。