Journal
ANIMAL CONSERVATION
Volume 4, Issue -, Pages 59-66Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1017/S1367943001001068
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The sensitivity of bat species to stochastic disturbance was investigated by exploiting the natural experiment provided by Hurricane Georges, which struck the island of Puerto Rico (Caribbean) in September 1998. Six forest habitats and three cave most sites sampled fur bats prior to the hurricane were sampled in the same way after the hurricane. Populations showed significant declines in abundance and species richness across all forest habitats sampled. Species' sensitivity to disturbance were not equal: larger species were significantly more affected by disturbance than smaller species, once the effects of phylogenetic non-independence were removed. There was some evidence that frugivorous and nectarivorous species an more affected by hurricane disturbance than insectivorous species. These findings have important implications for maintaining viable populations of species in areas that experience a high degree of environmental fluctuation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available