Februrary 2012

 

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Bat Fauna (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of Fazenda Tamanduá:
survey and monitoring in the Caatinga do Sertão region of the State of Paraíba
 

Since May 2011, the researchers Edson Silva Barbosa Leal (a biologist and specialist in zoology who is studying for a masters degree in ecology), Paulo Barros de Passos Filho (a biologist who is studying for a masters degree in ecology, and Environmental Manager of the Fazenda Tamanduá Institute), and Priscila Fernanda da Silva (a first degree student of the course in biological sciences) of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), “Dois Irmãos” Campus, in the city of Recife, Pernambuco – under the orientation of the professors and researchers Dr. Wallace Rodrigues Telino-Júnior (UAG/UFRPE), Dr. Rachel Maria de Lyra Neves (UAG/UFRPE), Dr. Geraldo Barbosa de Moura (UFRPE/Main Campus) and Dr. Deoclécio de Queiroz Guerra (Dept. of Zoology, CCB, UFPE) – have been making an inventory of the bat fauna of the Caatinga area in Fazenda Tamanduá, comprising 3,073 hectares, of which about 1,000 are a protected area (350 ha of Private Nature Reserve and 614 ha of Legal Reserve).

 

Also counting on the indispensible support of the farm’s owner, Dr. Pierre Landolt, the researchers have already recorded and catalogued so far – seven months after beginning the work in the area – 16 species of bats, belonging to four families: Phyllostomidae (11), Molossidae (2), Vespertilionidae (2) and Emballonuridae (1) and five trophic guilds (insectivorous, frugivorous, nectarivorous, hematophagous, and carnivorous).

Using the methodology of capturing with the use of mist-nets and actively seeking bat shelters during the day, two first registers of the species that occur have already been carried out for the Caatinga portion of morpho-climatic domain in the State of Paraíba; the corresponding articles have been written and submitted to scientific magazines, and are presently in the processing phase.

Diphylla ecaudata – bat that feeds on the blood of birds

 

Desmodus rotundus – bat that feeds on the blood of mammals

With exceptional diversity – which may increase substantially after the confirmation of further observations made recently – the chiropter fauna of Fazenda Tamanduá is not yet fully known, as the species accumulation curve has not yet reached an asymptote, which shows that other species may be recorded as the work progresses.

 In addition, from January 2012 on, the present study will start following a different path, with the beginning of the work of monitoring the bat populations that exist at FT, especially that of the hematophagous species Desmodus rotundus (E. Geoffroy, 1810), commonly known as the common vampire bat, as this species can potentially be directly involved, when infected, in the transmission of herbivores’ rabies (lethal acute encephalomyelitis) to farm animals (cattle, goats, hogs and sheep).

 

Fazenda Tamanduá has been nationally recognized for practicing sustainability for more than 30 years. Besides safeguarding the health of the herds it owns, the farm wishes to show publicly that – in addition to periodically vaccinating the animals it raises (whose milk is the basis for several dairy products) against this disease, which can jeopardize the image of any farmer’s products – it is also concerned to research and monitor the bat community that it shelters, avoiding the circulation of the rabies virus (genus Lyssavirus; Family Rhabdoviridae) not only among the populations of hematophagous bats, but also those that are not hematophagous.

 

This is because at present non-hematophagous bats have taken on great importance in rabies epidemiology in Brazil, being the main transmitters of this illness to human beings in the country. Therefore, the managers of the property, expressing their interest to the researcher Edson Leal, who is responsible for the work and has studied these winged mammals since the middle of 2006, have decided to make this one of the most important actions that the Fazenda Tamanduá Institute will carry out as from next year.

The monitoring work will probably last four years, with monthly 8-day visits to the area, and will involve tagging the animals, which will make it possible to estimate the size of the populations, reproductive standards and periods of the different species of bats (including the determination of the phase of recruiting the offspring), and gender ratios. Also, some samples will be retained and sent to the National Agricultural Laboratory (“LANAGRO”), Pernambuco section, in Recife, in order to carry out laboratory exams for rabies, by means of the joint techniques of Direct Immune Fluorescence (DIF) and Intracerebral Inoculation in Mice, biological proof (it take 45 days per sample delivered to issue a safe diagnosis, because in wild animals the virus presents an incubation period of over 21 days).

Priscila taking note of bionomic data (age, gender, reproductive phase) and biometric data (external measurements) gathered by Edson.

 

Other activities will be to determine the distance covered from the shelters found during nocturnal activity flights; and finally, to compose a visual map of the dynamics of the bat community in the area, in order to find out how these animals use and adapt to the space. (It is worth pointing out that they compose the largest part of the mammalian fauna in surveys of mammals, and stand out for performing environmental services of the highest importance, acting as agents that pollinate, and disperse the seeds of, countless vegetable species; controlling the populations of many animals, especially nocturnal flying insects, including plantation pests and disease vectors; and serving as sources of food for other animals). An additional aim will be to control the possible threat of the rabies virus circulating among the bat populations of the local community.

 
 

By Edson Silva Barbosa Leal
Biologist, CRBio 67.015/05-D
E-mail: edsonsbl@yahoo.com.br

 

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