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Bat diversity in the lowland forests of the Heart of Borneo

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Abstract

Borneo’s rainforests are renowned for their high levels of biodiversity, yet information on the distribution and structure of this diversity is lacking, particularly for less charismatic taxonomic groups. We quantified bat diversity across ten sites within a contiguous tract of largely undisturbed rainforest in the Heart of Borneo (HoB) transboundary conservation area. Using comparative analyses of 1,362 bat captures from six sites in Brunei Darussalam, together with data from four additional sites in neighbouring territories, we show that the main differences in bat assemblage composition between sites were driven by the abundances of a few cave-roosting species. Beta diversity (distance decay) was notably low and non-significant. Bat assemblage structure in these undisturbed palaeotropical forests is therefore relatively homogenous in the absence of environmental gradients. By adding 15 bat species to the Brunei national inventory, we confirm the area of north Borneo to be species-diverse and therefore a priority for conservation efforts. However, we also highlight that coastal forest to be included in a recent extension to the HoB hosts bat assemblages with the fewest species and lowest densities. We maintain that extending the HoB in Brunei to include a more diverse portfolio of habitat types is still warranted on the grounds of maximising botanical diversity and habitat area, as long as it does not detract attention from interior forests that support higher vertebrate diversity.

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Acknowledgments

The bulk of this work was supported by a Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) grant awarded to MJS whilst a Research Fellow at the university, with additional support from the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Expedition Fund to JH. MJS is particularly grateful to Kamariah Abu Salim and the UBD Research Committee for approving the research. During this project we were grateful to the help of many individuals from UBD, Brunei Museums, Forestry Department and local communities. We are particularly grateful to Hj Saidin Bin Salleh, Director of Forestry and Bantong Bin Antaran, Director of Brunei Museums, for granting us permission to access research sites, and to Siti Norhayatty Morni for facilitating access. Special thanks go to Joe Charles, Ang Bee Biaw and Samhan Nyawa, organisers of the Sungai Ingei Faunal Expedition (2010–2012), which was sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank and supported by the Ministry of Industry & Primary Resources, UBD and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Finally we would like to thank Farah Anie, Ulmar Grafe, Caroline Schőner and Michael Schőner, staff of Tasek Merimbun and Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre for helping with and facilitating fieldwork, as well as the students of the QMUL Tropical Ecology field-courses, for assisting MJS at Tasek Merimbun.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Anthropology and Conservation, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NR, UK

    Matthew J. Struebig

  2. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Matthew J. Struebig, Jan Hildebrand & Stephen J. Rossiter

  3. Genome Centre, John Vane Science Centre, Charterhouse Square, Queen Mary University of London, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK

    Monika Bożek

  4. Department of Biology, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jl. Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam

    David J. W. Lane

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  1. Matthew J. Struebig
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Correspondence to Matthew J. Struebig.

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Struebig, M.J., Bożek, M., Hildebrand, J. et al. Bat diversity in the lowland forests of the Heart of Borneo . Biodivers Conserv 21, 3711–3727 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0393-0

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