Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:03:42.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Species diversity of bats along an altitudinal gradient on Mount Mulanje, southern Malawi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2012

Michael Curran ,
Mirjam Kopp ,
Jan Beck  and
Jakob Fahr
Michael Curran*
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Biogeography, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056 Basel, Switzerland Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 15, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Mirjam Kopp
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Biogeography, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Jan Beck
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Department of Environmental Sciences, Biogeography, St. Johanns-Vorstadt 10, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Jakob Fahr
Affiliation:
University of Ulm, Institute of Experimental Ecology, Albert-Einstein Allee 11, 89069 Ulm, Germany University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Division of Evolutionary Biology, Mendelssohnstr. 4, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

A climate model, based on effects of water availability and temperature, was recently proposed to explain global variation in bat species richness along altitudinal gradients. Yet such studies are sparse in the tropics and near-absent in Africa. Here we present results from an altitudinal study of bat diversity from Mount Mulanje, Malawi. Using ground nets, canopy nets and harp traps, we sampled eight sites across three habitat zones from 630 m to 2010 m asl. We assessed the influence of climatic, geographic and biotic variables on measures of estimated species richness, Fisher's α, and an unbiased index of compositional turnover. We recorded 723 individuals and 30 species along the gradient, revealing a ‘low plateau’ pattern in estimated species richness, peaking at 1220 m, which is congruent with the global climate model. Measures of local habitat structure significantly explained a large degree of variation in species richness and compositional turnover between sites. Fisher's α was further significantly correlated to mean annual relative humidity, suggesting a background climatic influence.

Keywords

AfricaaltitudebiodiversitybatsChiropteraelevationenvironmental gradientshabitat structurespecies richness
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 243 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

BAYLISS, J., MAKUNGWA, S., HECHT, J., NANGOMA, D. & BRUESSOW, C. 2007. Saving the Island in the Sky: the plight of the Mount Mulanje cedar Widdringtonia whytei in Malawi. Oryx 41:64–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BECK, J., ALTERMATT, F., HAGMANN, R. & LANG, S. 2010. Seasonality in the altitude-diversity pattern of alpine moths. Basic and Applied Ecology 11:714–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BECK, J. & SCHWANGHART, W. 2010. Comparing measures of species diversity from incomplete inventories: an update. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 1:38–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BECK, J., BREHM, G. & FIEDLER, K. 2011. Links between the environment, abundance and diversity of Andean moths. Biotropica 43:208–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BERGMANS, W. 1997. Taxonomy and biogeography of African fruit bats (Mammalia, Megachiroptera). 5. The genera Lissonycteris Andersen, 1912, Myonycteris Matschie, 1899 and Megaloglossus Pagenstecher, 1885; general remarks and conclusions; annex: key to all species. Beaufortia 47:11–90.Google Scholar
BOUVIER, I. 2006. Mount Mulanje land cover time series analysis. Report to the Community Partnerships for Sustainable Resource Management in Malawi (COMPASS II), Blantyre, Malawi.Google Scholar
BROSE, U. & MARTINEZ, N. D. 2004. Estimating the richness of species with variable mobility. Oikos 105:292–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAO, A. & SHEN, T. J. 2003. Nonparametric estimation of Shannon's index of diversity when there are unseen species in sample. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 10:429–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAPMAN, J. D. 1962. The vegetation of the Mlanje Mountains, Nyasaland. Government Printer Zomba, Nyasaland. 78 pp.Google Scholar
COCKLE, A., KOCK, D., STUBLEFIELD, L., HOWELL, K. & BURGESS, N. 1998. Bat assemblages in Tanzanian coastal forests. Mammalia 62:53–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COLWELL, R. K. & LEES, D. C. 2000. The mid-domain effect: geometric constraints on the geography of species richness. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 15:70–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DOWSETT-LEMAIRE, F. 1988. The forest vegetation of Mount Mulanje (Malawi): A floristic and chorological study along an altitudinal gradient (650–1950 m). Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique 58:77–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAHR, J. & KALKO, E. K. V. 2011. Biome transitions as centres of diversity: habitat heterogeneity and diversity patterns of West African bat assemblages across spatial scales. Ecography 34:177–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FINDLEY, J. S. & WILSON, D. E. 1983. Are bats rare in tropical Africa? Biotropica 15:299–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FISHER, R. A., CORBET, A. S. & WILLIAMS, C. B. 1943. The relation between the number of species and the number of indivuduals in a random sample of an animal population. Journal of Animal Ecology 12:42–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOODMAN, S. M. & RASOLONANDRASANA, B. P. N. 2001. Elevational zonation of birds, insectivores, rodents and primates on the slopes of the Andringitra Massif, Madagascar. Journal of Natural History 35:285–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOTELLI, N. J. & COLWELL, R. K. 2001. Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecology Letters 4:379–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRAHAM, G. L. 1990. Bats versus birds: comparisons among Peruvian volant vertebrate faunas along an elevational gradient. Journal of Biogeography 17:657–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRYTNES, J.-A. & MCCAIN, C. M. 2007. Elevational trends in biodiversity. Pp. 1–8 in Levin, S. A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of biodiversity. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
HAPPOLD, D. C. D., HAPPOLD, M. & HILL, J. E. 1987. The bats of Malawi. Mammalia 51:337–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HAPPOLD, M. & HAPPOLD, D. C. D. 1997. New records of bats (Chiroptera: Mammalia) from Malawi, east-central Africa, with an assessment of their status and conservation. Journal of Natural History 31:805–836.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HAWKINS, B. A., DINIZ-FILHO, J. A. F. & WEIS, A. E. 2005. The mid-domain effect and diversity gradients: is there anything to learn? American Naturalist 166:E140–E143.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
HAYMAN, R. W. & HILL, J. E. 1971. Order Chiroptera. Pp. 1–73 in Meester, J. & Setzer, H. W. (eds.). The mammals of Africa. An identification manual. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
HURLBERT, S. H. 1971. The nonconcept of species diversity: a critique and alternative parameters. Ecology 52:577–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
JOST, L. 2006. Entropy and diversity. Oikos 113:363–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KOCK, D., CSORBA, G. & HOWELL, K. M. 2000. Rhinolophus maendeleo n. sp. from Tanzania, a horseshoe bat noteworthy for its systematics and biogeography. Senckenbergiana Biologica 80:233–239.Google Scholar
KUNZ, T. H., HODGKISON, R. & WEISE, C. D. 2009. Methods of capturing and handling bats. Pp 3–35 in Kunz, T. H. & Parsons, S. (eds.). Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. (Second edition). John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 901 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEGENDRE, P., BORCARD, D. & PERES-NETO, P. R. 2005. Analyzing beta diversity: partitioning the spatial variation of community composition data. Ecological Monographs 75:435–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MCCAIN, C. M. 2007a. Area and mammalian elevational diversity. Ecology 88:76–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MCCAIN, C. M. 2007b. Could temperature and water availability drive elevational richness patterns? A global case study for bats. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:1–13.Google Scholar
MEGGERS, B. J., AYENSU, E. S. & DUCKWORTH, W. D. (eds.). 1973. Tropical forest ecosystems in Africa and South America: a comparative review. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, DC. 350 pp.Google Scholar
MILLER-BUTTERWORTH, C. M., EICK, G., JACOBS, D. S., SCHOEMAN, M. C. & HARLEY, E. H. 2005. Genetic and phenotypic differences between South African long-fingered bats, with a global miniopterine phylogeny. Journal of Mammalogy 86:1121–1135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MONADJEM, A., SCHOEMAN, M. C., RESIDE, A., PIO, D. V., STOFFBERG, S., BAYLISS, J., COTTERILL, F. P. D., CURRAN, M., KOPP, M. & TAYLOR, P. J. 2010. A recent inventory of the bats of Mozambique with documentation of seven new species for the country. Acta Chiropterologica 12:371–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RACEY, P. A. & ENTWISTLE, A. C. 2003. Conservation ecology of bats. Pp. 680–743 in Kunz, T. H. & Fenton, M. B. (eds.). Bat ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
RAHBEK, C. 2005. The role of spatial scale and the perception of large-scale species-richness patterns. Ecology Letters 8:224–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RANGEL, T. F., DINIZ FILHO, J. A. F. & BINI, L. M. 2010. SAM: a comprehensive application for Spatial Analysis in Macroecology. Ecography 33:46–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROMDAL, T. S. & GRYTNES, J. A. 2007. An indirect area effect on elevational species richness patterns. Ecography 30:440–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SÁNCHEZ-CORDERO, V. 2001. Elevational gradients of diversity for rodents and bats in Oaxaca, Mexico. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 10:63–76.Google Scholar
SANDERS, N. J. 2002. Elevational gradients in ant species richness: area, geometry, and Rapoport's rule. Ecography 25:25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SANDERS, N. J., LESSARD, J., FITZPATRICK, M. C. & DUNN, R. R. 2007. Temperature, but not productivity or geometry, predicts elevational diversity gradients in ants across spatial grains. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:640–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHNITZLER, H. U. & KALKO, E. V. 2001. Echolocation by insect-eating bats. BioScience 51:557–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SIMMONS, N. B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. Pp. 312–529 in Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Vol. 1 (Third edition). John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 743 pp.Google Scholar
SMITH, S. A., NIETO MONTES DE OCA, A., REEDER, T. W. & WIENS, J. J. 2007. A phylogenetic perspective on elevational species richness patterns in middle American treefrogs: why so few species in lowland tropical rainforests? Evolution 61:1188–1207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
TERBORGH, J. 1977. Bird species diversity on an Andean elevational gradient. Ecology 58:1007–1019.Google Scholar
TRUEBLOOD, D. D., GALLAGHER, E. D. & GOULD, D. M. 1994. Three stages of seasonal succession on the Savin Hill Cove mudflat, Boston Harbor. Limnology and Oceanography 39:1440–1454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WALTHER, B. A. & MOORE, J. L. 2005. The concepts of bias, precision and accuracy, and their use in testing the performance of species richness estimators, with a literature review of estimator performance. Ecography 28:815–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar