Download Download
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online OPEN ACCESS every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Complementary bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) survey techniques uncover two new country records for Nigeria Iroro Tanshi, Anthony Ekata Ogbeibu & Paul Jeremy James Bates 26 November 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 14 | Pages: 14788–14801 DOI: 10.11609/jot.5294.11.14.14788-14801 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2019 | 11(14): 14788–14801 Complementary bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) survey Communication techniques uncover two new country records for Nigeria ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) 1 2 3 ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Iroro Tanshi , Anthony Ekata Ogbeibu & Paul Jeremy James Bates PLATINUM 1,2 Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, PMB 1154 Benin OPEN ACCESS City, Nigeria. 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409 USA. 1,3 Harrison Insttute, 15, St Botolph’s Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3AQ, United Kingdom. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] Abstract: Knowledge of the bat fauna in Nigeria is limited due to use of outdated collecton techniques, and infrequent sampling efort. To advance knowledge of bat diversity in the country, a survey of bats from three localites:—Emu, Okomu Natonal Park (ONP), and Ososo—in southern Nigeria was conducted using mist nets set at canopy and at ground level from February–September 2011. During 28 capture nights involving a total of 202.7 mist net/nights, 239 individuals belonging to 27 bat species in eight families (Emballonuridae, Hipposideridae, Megadermatdae, Molossidae, Nycteridae, Pteropodidae, Rhinolophidae, and Vespertlionidae) were recorded. A total of 130, 64, 45 individuals of 8, 13 and 11 species were recorded from Emu, Okomu, and Ososo, respectvely. Two new country records, Casinycteris campomaanensis and Chaerephon aloysiisabaudiae, both collected from Okomu Natonal Park, are reported for Nigeria. Whereas the former species was collected in a canopy high stacked mist net setup, the later was collected in a ground level mist net, demonstratng the value of employing contemporary and complementary sampling techniques especially in such understudied regions of Africa. Keywords: Bats, Casinycteris campomaanensis, Chaerephon aloysiisabaudiae, Guinean Forest of western Africa. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5294.11.14.14788-14801 Editor: Paul A. Racey, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK. Date of publicaton: 26 November 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #5294 | Received 31 July 2019 | Final received 07 November 2019 | Finally accepted 11 November 2019 Citaton: Tanshi, I., A.E. Ogbeibu & P.J.J. Bates (2019). Complementary bat (Mammalia: Chiroptera) survey techniques uncover two new country records for Nigeria. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(14): 14788–14801. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5294.11.14.14788-14801 Copyright: © Tanshi et al. 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: Bat Conservaton Internatonal; University of Benin; Idea Wild. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author details: Iroro Tanshi is interested in Afrotropical bat diversity paterns across the Lower Guinean Forest of West Africa and assemblage structure along elevatonal gradients. She is keen to develop mammal conservaton infrastructure of the Afrotropics. Iroro also co-founded and runs a non-proft Small Mammal Conservaton Organisaton, that is focused on evidence-based conservaton of small and medium sized mammals, ecological research and capacity building of local students in Nigeria and across West Africa. Anthony Ekata Ogbeibu is a Hydrobiologist working at the interface of biodiversity, ecology and human disturbance across fresh and brackish water systems across Nigeria. Dedicated to capacity building over the past three decades, he has trained several postgraduate students, with a publicaton record on the ecology of aquatc fauna and the impact of polluton on aquatc and terrestrial systems. Paul J.J. Bates trained as a small mammal/bat taxonomist. He has published extensively on the diversity, distributon and ecology of bats and rodents in Asia, Arabia and Africa. Through a series of internatonally funded projects, he has promoted capacity building, academic supervision and postgraduate training of young scientsts and conservatonists in the Old World tropics. Today, he works with a new generaton of in-country staf and students to preserve and protect wildlife and the environment in Africa and Asia. Author contributon: IT conducted the feld survey, preliminary identfcaton (for some members of Pteropodidae) and wrote the manuscript. AEB supervised the project and contributed to manuscript writng. PJJB contributed to taxonomic notes and manuscript writng. Ethics statement: The authors afrm that animals were handled following the guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild mammals in research (Sikes et al 2011). Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr. Stefan Petersson for donatng equipment and providing feld-based training on bat sampling techniques and to Dr. Jakob Fahr for help with project design, species identfcaton and donaton of mist nets. Funding for this project was provided by the University of Benin, Bat Conservaton Internatonal (BCI), and Idea Wild. The Natonal Park Service granted the research permit to survey Okomu Natonal Park, and land owners and community leaders facilitated access to private and communal land in Emu and Ososo. 14788 Complementary bat survey techniques uncover two new country records for Nigeria Tanshi et al. INTRODUCTION holds 12 terrestrial ecoregions, making it the most ecologically diverse country in western Africa (Olson et Africa holds over a ffh of the global diversity of al. 2001). Despite being ecologically diverse, the bat 1,411 bat species (Simmons & Cirranello 2019), but fauna of ecoregions across Nigeria is poorly understood, many countries on the contnent remain relatvely primarily due to limited sampling eforts and the use of under-surveyed. A recent species distributon model of outdated sampling techniques. bats across Africa detected a huge Wallacean shortall— To improve knowledge of the bat fauna in Nigeria, limited occurrence data primarily due to inadequate bat surveys were conducted at three localites across sampling (Herkt et al. 2016). To efectvely document two ecoregions using mist nets installed at ground and bat species occurrence and distributon paterns, canopy level. We report new records for Okomu Natonal intensive sampling across multple localites and habitat Park (ONP) and Nigeria. This is the frst study to employ types have been suggested (Fahr & Kalko 2011). Over a contemporary survey technique (stacked canopy nets), 90% of bat captures in Nigeria were reported prior to complemented by ground mist netng in Nigeria. the 1980s, showing limited sampling efort in the last four decades (I. Tanshi unpubl. data). Similar reports of limited surveys in recent decades are known from MATERIALS AND METHODS other countries in Africa (Bates et al. 2013; Kangoyé et al. 2015). Study localites Beyond sampling efort, limited knowledge of the Three localites were surveyed, Emu, Okomu Natonal fauna in Nigeria is due to inadequate capture techniques Park (ONP), and Ososo (Figure 1), all within Edo State, employed in previous studies. Elsewhere in the tropics, a landlocked area in southern Nigeria. The Nigerian improvement and implementaton of contemporary Natonal Park Service granted permission to conduct capture techniques has led to an increase in species surveys in ONP. Community members and individual discoveries and new distributonal records (Francis land owners granted permission for surveys in Emu and 1989; Kingston 2010). Employing appropriate sampling Ososo. Vegetaton in the state spans lowland rainforest techniques in bat surveys is important for local checklists to the south and Guinea savanna to