Chiropterofauna (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park, Goiás, Brazil

Introduction

In general, the conservation of diversity is against human activities, whether economic or recreational (Camacho-Sandoval & Duque, 2001). This conflict occurs when areas of economic interests overlap with those of value for conservation (Camacho-Sandoval & Duque, 2001; Palheta et al., 2020) and is aggravated by the lack of knowledge about species (Linnean deficit) (Lewis, 2006; Rose et al., 2018) and their geographic distribution (Wallaceano deficit) (Whittaker et al., 2005), which, in turn, represent barriers to conservation.

Chiroptera is the second largest order of mammals, comprising more than 1400 species in the world (Reis et al., 2007; Solari et al., 2019). In Brazil, there are 181 species distributed in 68 genera and 9 families (Garbino et al., 2020). Of these, 80 species, 42 genera and all 9 families occur in the Brazilian Cerrado (Emballonuridae, Noctilionidae, Mormoopidae, Furipteridae, Vespertilionidae, Molossidae, Natalidae, Thyropteridae and Phyllostomidae). This diversity corresponds to about 40% of bat species in South America (Bording, 2006), 60% of bat species in Brazil (Garbino et al., 2020) and nearly 50% of Cerrado mammal species (Aguiar & Machado, 2010).

Bats represent the group of mammals with the greatest diversity of feeding habits, including insectivorous, nectarivorous, frugivorous, carnivorous and hematophagous species (Kunz & Pierson, 1994: Peixoto et al., 2018). These animals are important pollinators and seed dispersers (Fleming, 1988; Mickleburgh et al., 2002; Vieira et al., 2021), and are considered key species in tropical forests, due to their effects on the structuring of plant communities (Fleming & Heithaus, 1981; Sritongchuay et al., 2019). They also play a role in insect control (Kalka et al., 2008; Williams-Guillén et al., 2008; Costa et al., 2018) of many species considered agricultural pests (Cleveland et al., 2006; Ghanem & Voigt, 2012).

Despite the great diversity of this group and its ecological importance, knowledge about the Cerrado bat fauna is still insufficient (Aguiar & Zortéa, 2008; Muylaert et al., 2016). It is estimated that about 70% of the original Cerrado extension has been converted to pasture and agriculture, being the last agricultural frontier in the world, and only 2.5% is protected by conservation units (Machado et al., 2004; Falcão et al., 2020). Thus, considering the importance of bats for the maintenance of ecosystem services, the anthropic pressure observed in the Cerrado and the scarcity of information on the diversity of bats in this biome, our objective is to present a list of bat species from the Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park, Goiás, Brazil and infer about species richness.

Material and methods

Study area

The study was carried out in the Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park (PEAMP), in the municipalities of Goianápolis, Nerópolis and Goiânia, state of Goiás (Figure 1). The PEAMP’s main objective is to protect the João Leite spring that supplies the metropolitan region of Goiânia. According to the Köppen classification, the region’s climate is “Aw”. It is characterized by two seasons: hot and rainy from October to March and cold and dry from April to September (Falcão et al., 2020). The PEAMP is a state conservation unit of integral protection created in 1992 and has an area of 3,183 hectares. The vegetation is typical of the Cerrado biome and consists of patches of Mata Seca, Mata de Galeria, Cerrado in the strict sense, Cerradão, Capoeira (Consolaro et al., 2019) and areas that were used for grazing.

Figure 1: Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park (PEAMP).

Results

With a sampling effort of 16,200 hm² (sensuStraube & Bianconi, 2002), 150 individuals of 9 species (all from the Phyllostomidae family) were captured (Table 2). Furthermore, 11.97 species were estimated with the Jackknife method, with the estimated richness being greater than the observed richness (Figure 2). The most abundant species were Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) and Artibeus planirostris (Spix, 1823). Sturnira lilium (É. Geoffroy, 1810), Phyllostomus discolor (Wagner, 1846) and Phyllostomus hastatus (Pallas, 1767) had only one specimen sampled. The guild with the highest representation was that of frugivores, with five species (Table 2).

Discussion

All species captured belong to the Phyllostomidae family, which is a common result in studies carried out in the Cerrado and other localities in the Neotropical region, since it is the most diverse and abundant family in the Neotropics (Fenton et al., 1992; Gardner, 2019; Zachos et al., 2020). The collection method used (mist net) further supports this result, since it tends to be selective for species of this family (Pedro & Taddei, 1997; Medellín et al., 2000). This selectivity of Phyllostomidae occurs because species of this family move using spatial memory more than echolocation (Pedro & Taddei, 1997; Thiagavel et al., 2020).

The wealth estimator curve did not stabilize with the sampling performed, since many rare species are not easily sampled (Bergallo et al., 2003). With continued sampling in the area, new species will likely be added to the existing list.

The predominant species was C. perspicillata, a species widely distributed in the Neotropical region (Fleming, 1988; Lino et al., 2021), and one of the most abundant in the Brazilian Cerrado (Aguiar & Zórtea, 2008). C. perspicillata is a frugivorous species that can feed on a variety of fruits of pioneer species (Pedro & Taddei, 2002; Bobrowiec & Gribel, 2010), which occur mainly in clearings, regenerating areas and forest edges (Mello et al., 2004; Carrasco-Rueda & Loiselle, 2019).

Figure 2: Observed and estimated richness of bats in the Altamiro de Moura Pacheco State Park.

In the sampled area, we observed the occurrence of frugivorous, nectarivorous and hematophagous species, guilds usually associated with regenerating areas (Martínez-Ferreira et al., 2020). On the other hand, carnivorous and larger bats were not sampled. Studies indicate that these bats are the most sensitive to environmental changes and the first to disappear in the face of environmental changes (Fenton et al. 1992; Medellín et al., 2000; Rocha et al., 2017; Castro et al., 2022).

Although this place is protected, it is important to emphasize the need to preserve not only this area, but also its surroundings. New samplings and the use of additional methods tend to increase the knowledge of bat diversity and register new species for the state of Goiás. Such information is important to support decisions regarding the management of areas and bat communities in conservation units.