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Conservation value of forest fragments to Palaeotropical bats

Struebig, Matthew J., Kingston, Tigga, Zubaid, Akbar, Mohd-Adnan, Adura, Rossiter, Stephen J. (2008) Conservation value of forest fragments to Palaeotropical bats. Biological Conservation, 141 (8). pp. 2112-2126. ISSN 0006-3207. (doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.009) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:31188)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.009

Abstract

Forested landscapes in Southeast Asia are becoming increasingly fragmented, making this region a conservation and research priority. Despite its importance, few empirical studies of effects of fragmentation on biodiversity have been undertaken in the region, limiting our ability to inform land-use regimes at a time of increased pressure on forests. We estimated the biodiversity value of forest fragments in peninsular Malaysia by studying fragmentation impacts on insectivorous bat species that vary in dependence of forest. We sampled bats at seven continuous forest sites and 27 forest fragments, and tested the influence of fragment isolation and area on the abundance, species richness, diversity, composition and nestedness of assemblages, and the abundance of the ten most common species. Overall, isolation was a poor predictor of these variables. Conversely, forest area was positively related with abundance and species richness of cavity/foliage-roosting bats, but not for that of cave-roosting or edge/open space foraging species. The smallest of fragments (<150 ha) were more variable in species composition than larger fragments or continuous forest, and larger fragments retained substantial bat diversity, comparable to continuous forest. Some fragments exhibited higher bat abundance and species richness than continuous forest, though declines might occur in the future because of time lags in the manifestation of fragmentation effects. Our findings suggest that fragments >300 ha contribute substantially to landscape-level bat diversity, and that small fragments also have some value. However, large tracts are needed to support rare, forest specialist species and should be the conservation priority in landscape-level planning. Species that roost in tree cavities or foliage may be more vulnerable to habitat fragmentation than those that roost in caves.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.009
Additional information: Unmapped bibliographic data: Y1 - 2008/08// [EPrints field already has value set] M3 - 10.1016/j.biocon.2008.06.009 [Field not mapped to EPrints] JA - BIOL CONSERV [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords: Chiroptera, habitat fragmentation, nestedness, species-area relationship, isolation, Malaysia, oil palm
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH75 Conservation (Biology)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Depositing User: Matthew Struebig
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2012 11:32 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:09 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/31188 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Struebig, Matthew J..

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2058-8502
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