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Life in a mosaic landscape: anthropogenic habitat fragmentation affects genetic population structure in a frugivorous bat species

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Abstract

Bats are often considered highly mobile and hence less susceptible to habitat fragmentation than other animals. We tested this basic assumption by studying populations of Dermanura watsoni, a frugivorous phyllostomid bat, inhabiting forest fragments in an agriculturally dominated landscape in northeastern Costa Rica. We used the mitochondrial D-loop DNA-sequence data to examine genetic diversity and population structure. A significant population differentiation (F ST  = 0.05, p < 0.001) over a geographical scale of approximately 20 km was detected. Genetic diversity within fragments correlated with patch size and the amount of suitable habitat in the surrounding matrix. The composition of the matrix in close proximity to the fragments explained variation in genetic diversity best. However, only habitat parameters measured from 1986 land cover conditions can explain current genetic diversity, and not those from 2001. Our study demonstrates that bats, despite their high mobility, are not secure from genetic erosion in anthropogenically modified landscapes. Population differentiation can occur on a surprisingly small geographic scale and after short time periods. Our findings illustrate the importance of considering several points in time when testing for an influence of habitat parameters as it might be decades until they are reflected by genetic diversity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Alberto Quintana of Hacienda Pozo Azul and Giovanna Holbrook of Selva Verde Lodge for the permission to conduct fieldwork. Thanks to all private land owners for granting access to their properties. For assistance in the field we are grateful to Emanuel Rojas, Elder Miranda, and Katrin Heer, to Martina Nagy for help in the laboratory and Mirjam Knörnschild for statistical advising. We thank Steven Sesnie for providing the land cover maps. Logistical support was provided by Chiquita Brands International. This work was approved by Javier Guevara (Resolutions: 047-2010-SINAC, 004-2011-SINAC, 128-2011-SINAC). Funding for field work was provided by a grant of the “Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst” (DAAD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Simon P. Ripperger & Frieder Mayer

  2. Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069, Ulm, Germany

    Simon P. Ripperger, Marco Tschapka & Elisabeth K. V. Kalko

  3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, P.O. Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama

    Marco Tschapka & Elisabeth K. V. Kalko

  4. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, P.O. Box 11501-2060, San Pedro, Costa Rica

    Bernal Rodriguez-Herrera

  5. Tirimbina Rainforest Center, P.O. Box 856-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica

    Bernal Rodriguez-Herrera

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  1. Simon P. Ripperger
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  2. Marco Tschapka
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  3. Elisabeth K. V. Kalko
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  4. Bernal Rodriguez-Herrera
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Correspondence to Simon P. Ripperger.

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Ripperger, S.P., Tschapka, M., Kalko, E.K.V. et al. Life in a mosaic landscape: anthropogenic habitat fragmentation affects genetic population structure in a frugivorous bat species. Conserv Genet 14, 925–934 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0434-y

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