Análise da variabilidade morfométrica de morcegos em habitats fragmentados

Abstract

One of the most environmentally impacted Brazilian biomes is the Atlantic Forest, mainly due to the exploitation of natural resources since the time of the discovery of Brazil. Currently, only about 5% of the original coverage of this biome is preserved and distributed in fragmented habitats involved by urban areas. As one of the groups that have a great potential to be indicators of the habitat destruction levels in many regions of the world, bats has a great importance for the maintenance and restoration of these ecosystems, since they are, among many other functions, excellent seed dispersers. Hence, researches that aim to increase the knowledge about these animals, manly in impacted environments need to be conducted. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the possible effects of the fragmetation of the Atlantic Forest in the external morphological features of these mammals. Were measured 12 morphometric variables and the weight of 136 individuals of the Atibeus planirostris, collected in Ecological Reserves of Caetés, Tapacurá Ecological and Charles Darwin. The results obtained using univariate and multivariate analyzes indicatedifferences in bat forearm length of A. planirostris between the ecological stations studied, possibly due to resource constraints and other factors that act on the Atlantic forest fragments.