Bat (Chiroptera) assemblages in three Cerrado fragments of Mato Grosso do Sul, southwestern Brazil

Abstract

Despite its high species richness and large area, the Brazilian Cerrado is a generally undervalued and under-protected biome. There are relatively few published studies of bat assemblages in this area. We surveyed for bats using mist-nets from April–November 2013 within and around Campo Grande, Brazil in an urban fragment, an agricultural fragment, and a larger fragment of continuous forest. We captured 508 individuals from 21 species representing four families: Phyllostomidae (10), Molossidae (6), Vespertilionidae (4), and Noctilionidae (1). Phyllostomids accounted for 91.73% of captures. The most common species were Artibeus planirostris (27.76%), Artibeus lituratus (21.06%), and Sturnira lilium (11.61%). There was variation between the sites: richness and diversity was highest in the continuous forest and lowest in the urban fragment. Evenness was highest in the rural fragment. The least similar sites were the urban fragment and the continuous forest; similarity was greatest between the rural site and continuous forest.