Current protection status of threatened bat species in the state of rio de janeiro, brazil

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation and obliteration are main factors negatively influencing the occurrence of bats, being the environmental preservation through the establishment of protected areas a fundamental strategy for maintaining bat populations. To identify which species are included in the Brazilian Conservation Units (CU’s) network generates some of the main data for conservation planning. Here we evaluate the number of threatened bat species occurring in Rio de Janeiro state and are protected by the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), and whether there are differences in the number of threatened species among the phytoecological regions. We compiled bat occurrence data between 1989 and 2018 on 30 Protected areas and 17 sites that are not included in the SNUC. We recorded three threatened species at national level and 11 species at regional level. One species (Natalus macrourus) is the only with threatened status at both levels (regional and national) that is not protected by the SNUC in Rio de Janeiro state. This species was captured in Miracema and Cantagalo municipalities, which present important sites for bats conservation and/or preservation with no legal protection whatsoever. We also consider the Gruta Pedra Santa site in Cantagalo municipality an important site for biodiversity preservation: It presents records of three threatened species at national level in a region of high environmental degradation. Some threatened bat species are poorly or not protected by the CUs network established in Rio de Janeiro state, especially those occurring in the semideciduous seasonal forest region.