Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of aerial insectivorous bats decay on forest islands created by a mega Amazonian dam

Bobrowiec, Paulo Estefano D., Ponzio, Raffaello Di, Colombo, Guthieri Teixeira, Peres, Carlos A. and Benchimol, Maíra (2025) Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of aerial insectivorous bats decay on forest islands created by a mega Amazonian dam. Global Ecology and Conservation, 58. pp. 1-14. ISSN 2351-9894

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Abstract

Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across the tropics, leading to extensive landscape changes driven by habitat loss and fragmentation of lowland forests. Assessing their effects on biodiversity and designing effective conservation strategies require a comprehensive understanding of both the local habitat context and landscape-scale perspective. We investigated the influence of local, patch and landscape-scale variables on the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of aerial insectivorous bats in a 30-year-old archipelagic forest landscape in Brazilian Amazonia. Bats were surveyed using passive recorders across 28 forest islands and six adjacent continuous forest sites. Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity facets were calculated within a Hill numbers approach that considers the importance of rare, common, and dominant species. We analyzed the response of bat diversity to both local and landscape changes, using vegetation structure, patch, and landscape variables as predictors. Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities were reduced on forest islands. All facets of diversity for species richness (q = 0) and common species (q = 1) were positively influenced by local and patch-scale characteristics, including tree species diversity and forest cover, but negatively affected by edge area around the islands. Taxonomic diversity was found to be a good indicator of phylogenetic diversity. Undisturbed continuous forests and islands that support species-rich tree floras and lower edge habitat density, harboured greater numbers of aerial insectivorous bats, as well as phylogenetically diverse assemblages exhibiting broader ecological functions. Bat diversity was most influenced by habitat quality, highlighting the need to establish protected forest areas that include large islands (>100 ha) around land bridge island systems.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	We are grateful to ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute of Biodiversity), REBIO Uatuma/ICMBio and Gilmar Klein for logistical support during fieldwork. We thank Dedeu and Thiago Bicudo for their assistance during fieldwork and Giulliana Appel for help in bat species identification. We thank the anonymous reviewer and Associate Editor Franciany Braga Pereira for commenting on drafts of the paper. Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the online version at doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03488. Data will be made available on request
Uncontrolled Keywords:	central amazon,conservation strategies,diversity dimensions,habitat fragmentation,hydropower projects,land-bridge systems,ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics,ecology,nature and landscape conservation ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2026 13:30
Last Modified:	31 Mar 2026 13:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102674
DOI:	10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03488

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