24
A. A. Durán: Influence of abiotic factors on populations of Carollia perspicillata
Influence of abiotic factors on populations of Carollia
perspicillata (Linnaeus 1758) (Mammalia, Chiroptera)
ä
Abstract The Amazon is a region of South America considered of vital importance due
to its high biodiversity. It is considered as one of the most productive terrestrial ecosystems
on the planet, due to its structural and landscape complexity. It harbors a great diversity of
bats, being Carollia perspicillata (Phyllostomidae) one of the most commonly recorded, it is
mainly frugivorous, foraging in the lowest stratum of the forest, there are few studies about
its ecology and even less in the Amazon region; therefore, this study aims to evaluate the
influence of abiotic factors (temperature, seasonality, illuminated phase of the Moon) on a
population of the aforementioned species in the Brazilian Amazon. For the capture of bats, 8
mist nets were used in terra firme forest in the Brazilian central Amazon. The temperature
data were provided by the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET-Brazil), while the percent-
age of illuminated phase of the Moon for each day of collection was obtained by Moontool
version 2.0 Software. In total, 888 individuals were captured: 358 males and 530 females.
A higher frequency of young individuals (for both sexes) was recorded in the rainy season, as
well as lactating females and the total of individuals recorded. The weight of the bats does
not seem to respond to the climate season. The temperature did not significantly influence
the abundance of individuals, however the percentage of illuminated phase of the Moon does,
as has already been demonstrated by other authors, responding to a phenomenon known as
«moon phobia». Results suggest that abiotic factors may influence on populations of this bat
species in the forests of the Brazilian Amazon.
Keywords: Amazon, Carollia, abiotic factor, Phyllostomidae.
ä
Resumen El Amazonas es una región de Sudamérica, considerada de vital importancia
por su alta biodiversidad. Se constituye como uno de los ecosistemas terrestres más producti-
vos del planeta, debido a su complejidad estructural y paisajística, alberga una gran riqueza de
murciélagos, siendo Carollia perspicillata (Phyllostomidae) una de las más comúnmente regis-
tradas, es principalmente frugívora, forrajeando en el estrato más bajo del bosque, son pocos
los estudios acerca de su ecoloa y menos aún en la región amazónica; por consiguiente, el
presente estudio pretende evaluar la influencia de factores abióticos en una poblacn de la
Influencia de factores abióticos en poblaciones de Carollia
perspicillata (Linnaeus 1758) (Mammalia, Chiroptera)
Adrián Alonso Durán
1,2 *
1
Grupo de Investigación en Zoología y Ecología, Universidad de Sucre. Cra 28 # 5 267, Barrio Puerta
Roja, Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia.
2
Centro de Estudos de Biodiversidade, Universidad Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS). Avenida
Costa e Silva, s/n, Universitário, CEP 79070 900, Campo Grande, MS, Brasil
* Co
rrespondencia: adurandelaossa@gmail.com
ä Ref. bibliográfica: Durán, A. A. 2018. Influence of abiotic factors on populations of Carollia perspicil-
lata (Linnaeus 1758) (Mammalia, Chiroptera). Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (2): 2430.
ä Recibido: 21/06/18 Aceptado: 28/09/18
ä URL de la revista: http://actazoologica.lillo.org.ar
ä Algunos derechos reservados. Esta obra está bajo una Licencia
Creative Commons Atribución No Comercial Sin Obra Derivada
4.0 Internacional.
D . O . I . : h t t p s: / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 3 0 5 5 0 /j . a z l / 2 0 1 8 . 6 2 . 2 / 3
24
Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (2): 2430, 7 de diciembre 2018
25
Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (2): 2430, 7 de diciembre 2018
mencionada especie en el Amazonas brasilero. Para la captura de murciélagos se emplearon
8 redes de niebla en el bosque de terra firme en la amazonía central brasilera. Los datos de
temperatura fueron proporcionados por el Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (INMET-Brasil),
mientras que el porcentaje de fase iluminada de la Luna para cada día de colecta se obtuvo
mediante el software Moontool v. 2.0. En total fueron capturados 888 individuos: 358 machos
y 530 hembras. Fue registrada una mayor frecuencia de individuos jóvenes (para ambos sexos)
en la temporada de lluvias, así como de hembras lactantes y total de individuos registrados.
El peso de los murclagos no parece responder a la temporada climática. La temperatura
no influenc significativamente las abundancias de individuos, sin embargo, el porcentaje de
fase iluminada de la Luna sí, respondiendo a un fenómeno conocido como «fobia lunar». Los
resultados sugieren que el clima sí puede influenciar en las poblaciones de esta especie de
murciélago en los bosques de la Amazonía brasilera.
Palabras clave: Amazonas, Carollia, factores abióticos, Phyllostomidae.
The Amazon region is a highly productive
type of ecosystem, mainly due to its struc-
tural and landscape complexity (Holdridge,
1967; Myster, 2009). Its biodiversity is, in
many aspects, unique (Daly and Prance,
1989), which is why it is considered one of
the most important tropical forests in the
world (Keller et al., 2004).
Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus 1758)
(Figure 1) is a bat belonging to the Phyllos-
tomidae family, found in deciduous forests
from Mexico to southern Brazil, being very
common in secondary forests (Cloutier and
Thomas, 1992, Durán and Canchila, 2015).
This species is typically frugivorous (Muñoz,
2001; Gardner, 2008) and highly recorded in
Figure 1. Carollia perspicillata (Phyllostomidae). Source: A. F. Eriksson.
26
A. A. Durán: Influence of abiotic factors on populations of Carollia perspicillata
understory mainly due to its foraging habits
(Bonaccorso, 1979; Stoner, 2005).
Studies conducted in Panama and Costa
Rica have found that these bats are seasonal
in terms of their reproductive patterns: from
June-August (during the rainy season) and
between the months of February-May (dur-
ing the dry season) (Cloutier and Thomas,
1992). Likewise, other studies, such as Mel-
lo et al. (2009), have found that in the bat
Sturnira lilium the temperature turned out
to be a very important factor in the ecology
of the species; while, Esbérard (2007) found
that the percentage of illuminated phase of
the moon determines the representativeness
of bat species in an assembly, due to its de-
tection and catchability.
There is little research on the ecology of
the species in question, and even less in the
Amazon region; therefore, the objective of
this study is to evaluate whether abiotic fac-
tors (temperature, seasonality, illuminated
phase of the Moon) influence on populations
of C. perspicillata in the forests of the Brazil-
ian Amazon. The proposed hypothesis is that
the seasonality to have a strong influence on
the population structure of the species, as
well as the temperature and the illuminated
phase of the Moon since they are very im-
portant factors in the catchability of the bats,
as has been demonstrated in other species of
the same subfamily (for example, Esbérard,
2007; Mello et al., 2009; Saldaña-Vázquez
and Munguía-Rosas, 2012)
The study area includes the municipali-
ties of Porto Velho and Jaci Para in the
state of Rondónia (northern Brazil), located
on the margin of the Madeira river in the
Amazon region (Figure 2). This river is one
of the largest tributaries of the Amazon Riv-
er accounting for around 15% of its volume
(Goulding et al., 2003).
The region presents an average annual
rainfall of 1700 to 2000 mm, with a period
of rain between the months of November to
April and a period of low precipitation from
June to September. The vegetation is typi-
cal of the dense tropical forest, with mosaics
Figure 2. Location of the study area in the Brazilian Amazon region.
27
Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (2): 2430, 7 de diciembre 2018
of terra firme forests and seasonally flooded
forests, without anthropic intervention (Ve-
loso et al., 1991).
The study was carried out during the
months of April, May, June, July September,
November, December 2010 and April, May,
June, August and September 2011 covering
62 nights of sampling and considering the
climatic season (rainy and dry).
For the capture of bats of the species C.
perspicillata were used eight mist nets of 12
x 2.4 meters open at understory level from
18:00 - 00:00 h, checked every 30 minutes.
The captured individuals were transported
in cloth bags to the camp, where they were
marked with a unique tattoo number, mea-
sured, weighed, sexed and later released.
The characteristics for the description
of the species follow Muñoz (2001): they
are robust, of medium size (mass = 18.5 gr
and total length = 66-95 mm), the nose leaf
is short and triangular. The lower lip is «v»
shaped and has a mentonian foramen sur-
rounded by smaller ones. The fur is dense
and the coloration goes from dark brown to
lighter (Figure 1).
The sampling effort was calculated by
multiplying the length by the width of the
mist nets, by the number of open hours, by
the number of nights and number of nets
used. The result was expressed in m
2
mist
/ hour based on the method proposed by
Medellín (1993) and modified by López et
al. (2009). The Chi-square test determined
the existence of statistically significant differ-
ences between age (juvenile, adult) and re-
productive condition (females: lactating and
pregnant, males: scrotal and non-palpable
testes), with respect to the climatic season
(rainy, dry) (Legendre and Legendre, 2012).
Likewise, it was evaluated if the weight of
the bats was influenced by the same vari-
able, using a t-test; later a density graph was
made with the «qplot» function of the gg-
plot2 package for the R v. 3.12 platform.
The temperature data were taken from
the Porto Velho-A925 station of the Nation-
al Institute of Meteorology (INMET-Brazil),
however, there were only available data
for June, July, September, November and
December 2010 and April and May 2011.
While, the data of the percentage of illumi-
nated phase of the moon were obtained by
means of the software Moontool for Win-
dows 2.0 (Walker, 1999). Subsequently,
Pearson correlations were performed to de-
termine significant relationships between
the abundances of bats and the previously
exposed variables.
A total of 888 individuals were capturing
Figure 3. Number of individuals according to: a) reproductive condition. NR = Non Reproduc-
tive, ST = Scrotal Testes, IT = Impalpable Testes b) Sex, and c) Age, for each climate season.
Black Bars = rainy, Gray Bars = dry. * = Significant differences P < 0.01.
28
A. A. Durán: Influence of abiotic factors on populations of Carollia perspicillata
with a sampling effort of 85708.8 m
2
. net /
hour: 358 males and 530 females, of which
21 were recaptured (not included in the
analyzes). Considering the climate season
(rainy and dry), there were significant dif-
ferences between the reproductive condition
(female: X
2
= 18.770, df = 2, P = 0.000,
male: X
2
= 9.353, df = 1, P = 0.002) and
age (X
2
= 36.987, df = 1, P = 0.000), but
not for sex (X
2
= 0.549, df = 1, P = 0.458)
(Figure 3).
On the other hand, considering the weight
of the individuals (and even if extreme data
are recorded), no differences can be seen with
respect to the climatic period (t = 1.473, gl =
882.81, P = 0.141) (Figure 4).
The temperature did not seem to signifi-
cantly influence the catches (t = -0.908, df
= 26, P = 0.371), however the illuminated
phase of the Moon showed great influence (t
= -2.692, df = 26, P = 0.012) (Figure 5).
The results suggest that abiotic factors
have an important influence on the popula-
tions of C. perspicillata in the Brazilian Ama-
zon, with which the proposed hypothesis is
fulfilled.
Figure 4. Weight of the recorded individuals according to the climate season.
Figure 5. Monthly variation of the abundances of C. perspicillata, with respect to a) the
temperature (°C) (black line) and, b) Percentage of the illuminated phase of the Moon (black
line).
29
Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (2): 2430, 7 de diciembre 2018
A greater proportion of individuals (of
both sexes) was recorded in the rainy season
(Table 1), possibly responding to a greater
availability of resources (Lim and Engstron,
2001; Stoner, 2005; Pereira et al., 2010).
However, the weight does not seem to have
responded to this variable, with which,
Pereira et al. (2010) suggest that a seasonal
variation in fruit availability does not nec-
essarily imply that this resource is limiting
for frugivorous bats during part of the year.
This can be abundant throughout the year,
and during the fruiting peak there may be a
surplus of food that is not consumed.
Moreover, the greater abundance of lac-
tating females during the rainy season is con-
sistent with what was recorded in Cloutier
and Thomas (1992), indicating that the re-
productive periods in the forests of Panama
and Costa Rica may be similar to those of
the Amazon. Likewise, Mello et al. (2004),
in the Atlantic forest in Brazil, found that
fruit production and temperature are very
important variables in the reproduction of
the species.
The percentage of illuminated phase of
the Moon had a great influence on the cap-
tures, as has already been found by other au-
thors (Esbérard, 2007, Saldaña-Vázquez and
Munguía-Rosas, 2012), responding to a phe-
nomenon known as «moon phobia», where-
as, due to the fact that the temperature did
not show such a marked variation (on the
days of capture of the study, see Figure 5)
and no data were available of temperature
for all sampling days it cannot be concluded
that there is no correlation between this vari-
able and the catches. In a study conducted
by Mello et al. (2009) in the Sturnira lilium
species, found that the temperature has a
strong influence on the catches and repro-
ductive cycles of the species, in the Atlantic
forest in Brazil. It is necessary to carry out
a more prolonged study (month to month)
for C. perspicillata, relating the catches with
temperature data so that a more solid con-
clusion is reached, refuting or confirming the
data found in this studio.
ACKNO W LEDGMEN T S
I am grateful to the National Institute of
Amazonian Research (INPA), Manaus (Bra-
zil) for the data provided for the study, as
well as to the National Council for Scien-
tific and Technological Development (CNPq)
for the granting of the scholarship for the
completion of the master’s degree, and to
the Federal University of Mato Grosso do
Sul, Campo Grande (Brazil). Furthermore,
l would like to thank A. F. Eriksson for the
photos of the specimen.
FUNDI N G
The work was conceived thanks to the
data provided by the National Institute of
Amazonian Research (INPA) and the grant
given by the National Council for Scientific
and Technological Development (CNPq) pro-
cess: 131544 / 2016-0.
PARTI C IPATION
The only author of the paper, Adrián
Alonso Durán, made the entire study.
CONFL I CTS OF INTE R EST
The author guarantees that there is no
conflict of interest of any kind
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Accesado: 12 febrero de 2018.