Bats in the Ghats: Agricultural intensification reduces functional diversity and increases trait filtering in a biodiversity hotspot in India
| Title | Bats in the Ghats: Agricultural intensification reduces functional diversity and increases trait filtering in a biodiversity hotspot in India |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2017 |
| Authors | Wordley CFR, Sankaran M, Mudappa D, Altringham JD |
| Journal | Biological Conservation |
| Volume | 210 |
| Pagination | 48-55 |
| Date Published | 06/2017 |
| Abstract | The responses of bats to land-use change have been extensively studied in temperate zones and the neotropics, but little is known from the palaeotropics. Effective conservation in heavily-populated palaeotropical hotspots requires a better understanding of which bats can and cannot survive in human-modified landscapes. We used catching and acoustic transects to examine bat assemblages in the Western Ghats of India, and identify the species most sensitive to agricultural change. We quantified functional diversity and trait filtering of assemblages in forest fragments, tea and coffee plantations, and along rivers in tea plantations with and without forested corridors, compared to protected forests. |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.biocon.2017.03.026 |