Diversity and Conservation of Cave-Dwelling Bats in the Brunca Region of Costa Rica
Recinto de Golfito, Universidad de Costa Rica, 4000 Alamedas, Golfito 60701, Costa Rica
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Diversity 2018, 10(2), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/d10020043
Received: 10 April 2018
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Revised: 27 May 2018
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Accepted: 30 May 2018
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Published: 2 June 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diversity and Conservation of Bats)
The Brunca region in Costa Rica contains the largest number of caves in the country, yet the diversity and distribution of bat species within those caves is currently unknown. Without this information, it is not possible to assess changes in populations and assemblages that may indicate severe damages to these critical roosting habitats, and to take evidence-based conservation actions. We present the first study to describe the diversity of cave-dwelling bat species in the Brunca region of Costa Rica in a large number of caves. We collected data of bat species diversity by direct observation and capturing bats inside roosts. Bats were observed in 38 of the 44 surveyed caves, representing 20 species from 4 families, with colony sizes ranging from a few individuals to >7500. In addition, we collected information about the human activities carried out in and around the roosts to assess potential threats that these sites face. Data indicate that caves suffer mostly from unregulated tourist visitation and that one of the most visited caves is also the one with the most species-rich bat assemblages. Our study determined the most important and vulnerable bat roosts in the region and shows the need for urgent conservation actions to protect them.
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Keywords:
bats; Brunca region; caves; conservation; Costa Rica; diversity
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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Externally hosted supplementary file 1
Link: https://figshare.com/projects/Diversity_and_conservation_of_cave-dwelling_bats_in_the_Brunca_region_of_Costa_Rica/34415
Description: Dataset providing locations of 44 caves in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. The dataset is part of the manuscript 297066 for the Diversity journal, named "Diversity and conservation of cave-dwelling bats in the Brunca region of Costa Rica".
MDPI and ACS Style
Deleva, S.; Chaverri, G. Diversity and Conservation of Cave-Dwelling Bats in the Brunca Region of Costa Rica. Diversity 2018, 10, 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10020043
AMA Style
Deleva S, Chaverri G. Diversity and Conservation of Cave-Dwelling Bats in the Brunca Region of Costa Rica. Diversity. 2018; 10(2):43. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10020043
Chicago/Turabian StyleDeleva, Stanimira, and Gloriana Chaverri. 2018. "Diversity and Conservation of Cave-Dwelling Bats in the Brunca Region of Costa Rica" Diversity 10, no. 2: 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/d10020043
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