ABSTRACT
Some bat species seem to be lunar phobic, i.e., they avoid flying in bright areas or during bright periods of the night; however, the evidence is still controversial. We think that part of this controversy comes from pooling data on bat captures and moonlight intensity according to broad categories, such as moon phases, which conceal the high variability among nights. Therefore, we used detailed, long-term field data on three phyllostomid bat species, in order to test the hypothesis of lunar phobia at two different time scales: 1) among nights, by pooling data of different nights according to moon phases and testing for differences in the distribution of captures; and 2) within a night, by analyzing the relationship between capturability and moonlight intensity (measured as illuminance) in one-hour intervals for 29 individual nights. Although most captures of the studied bat species occurred in the first half of the night, their activity pattern varied largely among nights, and was not always unimodal as commonly assumed. At the larger time scale, all studied bat species showed evidence of lunar phobia, as they were more frequently captured on dark moon phases. Nevertheless, at the smaller time scale, only Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) was less frequently captured on brighter periods of the night. We propose that the unimodal activity pattern assumed for frugivorous phyllostomid bats may be an artifact of data organization, and that activity and lunar phobia are much more variable than previously assumed.
ABSTRACT
Some bat species seem to be lunar phobic, i.e., they avoid flying in bright areas or during bright periods of the night; however, the evidence is still controversial. We think that part of this controversy comes from pooling data on bat captures and moonlight intensity according to broad categories, such as moon phases, which conceal the high variability among nights. Therefore, we used detailed, long-term field data on three phyllostomid bat species, in order to test the hypothesis of lunar phobia at two different time scales: 1) among nights, by pooling data of different nights according to moon phases and testing for differences in the distribution of captures; and 2) within a night, by analyzing the relationship between capturability and moonlight intensity (measured as illuminance) in one-hour intervals for 29 individual nights. Although most captures of the studied bat species occurred in the first half of the night, their activity pattern varied largely among nights, and was not always unimodal as commonly assumed. At the larger time scale, all studied bat species showed evidence of lunar phobia, as they were more frequently captured on dark moon phases. Nevertheless, at the smaller time scale, only Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) was less frequently captured on brighter periods of the night. We propose that the unimodal activity pattern assumed for frugivorous phyllostomid bats may be an artifact of data organization, and that activity and lunar phobia are much more variable than previously assumed.
ABSTRACT
Some bat species seem to be lunar phobic, i.e., they avoid flying in bright areas or during bright periods of the night; however, the evidence is still controversial. We think that part of this controversy comes from pooling data on bat captures and moonlight intensity according to broad categories, such as moon phases, which conceal the high variability among nights. Therefore, we used detailed, long-term field data on three phyllostomid bat species, in order to test the hypothesis of lunar phobia at two different time scales: 1) among nights, by pooling data of different nights according to moon phases and testing for differences in the distribution of captures; and 2) within a night, by analyzing the relationship between capturability and moonlight intensity (measured as illuminance) in one-hour intervals for 29 individual nights. Although most captures of the studied bat species occurred in the first half of the night, their activity pattern varied largely among nights, and was not always unimodal as commonly assumed. At the larger time scale, all studied bat species showed evidence of lunar phobia, as they were more frequently captured on dark moon phases. Nevertheless, at the smaller time scale, only Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) was less frequently captured on brighter periods of the night. We propose that the unimodal activity pattern assumed for frugivorous phyllostomid bats may be an artifact of data organization, and that activity and lunar phobia are much more variable than previously assumed.
ABSTRACT
Adriano Peracchi and other pioneers made the first investigations about the diet of Brazilian bats, and so they paved the way for studies on bat-plant interactions in the country. To honor their work we should avoid reinventing the wheel: if we stand on the shoulders of those giants, maybe we can see at a greater distance. The most important step towards this advancement is to put Brazilian research on bat-plant interactions into more interesting theoretical frameworks. After fine-tuning the countrys research to the international scientific effort, we can use a promising but overlooked treasure: datasets accumulated since the 1960s and published in papers and monographs. Brazilian researchers have already published some innovative studies on bat-plant interactions. However, this is only the beginning. I present in this paper some opportunities to go further.
Adriano Peracchi and other pioneers made the first investigations about the diet of Brazilian bats, and so they paved the way for studies on bat-plant interactions in the country. To honor their work we should avoid reinventing the wheel: if we stand on the shoulders of those giants, maybe we can see at a greater distance. The most important step towards this advancement is to put Brazilian research on bat-plant interactions into more interesting theoretical frameworks. After fine-tuning the countrys research to the international scientific effort, we can use a promising but overlooked treasure: datasets accumulated since the 1960s and published in papers and monographs. Brazilian researchers have already published some innovative studies on bat-plant interactions. However, this is only the beginning. I present in this paper some opportunities to go further.
ABSTRACT
Adriano Peracchi and other pioneers made the first investigations about the diet of Brazilian bats, and so they paved the way for studies on bat-plant interactions in the country. To honor their work we should avoid reinventing the wheel: if we stand on the shoulders of those giants, maybe we can see at a greater distance. The most important step towards this advancement is to put Brazilian research on bat-plant interactions into more interesting theoretical frameworks. After fine-tuning the countrys research to the international scientific effort, we can use a promising but overlooked treasure: datasets accumulated since the 1960s and published in papers and monographs. Brazilian researchers have already published some innovative studies on bat-plant interactions. However, this is only the beginning. I present in this paper some opportunities to go further.
Adriano Peracchi and other pioneers made the first investigations about the diet of Brazilian bats, and so they paved the way for studies on bat-plant interactions in the country. To honor their work we should avoid reinventing the wheel: if we stand on the shoulders of those giants, maybe we can see at a greater distance. The most important step towards this advancement is to put Brazilian research on bat-plant interactions into more interesting theoretical frameworks. After fine-tuning the countrys research to the international scientific effort, we can use a promising but overlooked treasure: datasets accumulated since the 1960s and published in papers and monographs. Brazilian researchers have already published some innovative studies on bat-plant interactions. However, this is only the beginning. I present in this paper some opportunities to go further.
ABSTRACT
Mammals are among the most charismatic and well-studied organisms, and Brazil harbors the largest mammal diversity of the world. The Brazilian Society of Mammalogy was established in 1985, and since 2001 it organizes the Brazilian Congress of Mammalogy. We used the proceedings of all three editions of this congress together with papers indexed in Web of Science and Scielo to evaluate trends in Brazilian mammalogy. All contributions were categorized according to mammalian order, biome, topic of research and state of authors' affiliation. Our results show that mammalian orders with higher species richness receive more attention, but the ranking is different between abstracts and papers. Higher species richness did not translate into more attention for more speciose biomes, and again the ranking was different between papers and abstracts. There are research topics that receive much higher attention than others, and also other important ones, like Taxonomy, that have been neglected. States with greater human populations produce both more papers and abstracts. We conclude that the higher number of publication in the Atlantic Forest is caused by the concentration of mammalogists in the south and southeastern regions of the country. Contrary to what is normally believed, mammalian orders received attention according to their species richness, and not their charisma, probably because richer orders provide more study models. We suggest that additional funding mechanisms should be set in place in order to encourage more research on mammalian orders, topics, and states which have been neglected so far, in order to improve the knowledge on important Brazilian mammal biodiversity.
ABSTRACT
Mammals are among the most charismatic and well-studied organisms, and Brazil harbors the largest mammal diversity of the world. The Brazilian Society of Mammalogy was established in 1985, and since 2001 it organizes the Brazilian Congress of Mammalogy. We used the proceedings of all three editions of this congress together with papers indexed in Web of Science and Scielo to evaluate trends in Brazilian mammalogy. All contributions were categorized according to mammalian order, biome, topic of research and state of authors' affiliation. Our results show that mammalian orders with higher species richness receive more attention, but the ranking is different between abstracts and papers. Higher species richness did not translate into more attention for more speciose biomes, and again the ranking was different between papers and abstracts. There are research topics that receive much higher attention than others, and also other important ones, like Taxonomy, that have been neglected. States with greater human populations produce both more papers and abstracts. We conclude that the higher number of publication in the Atlantic Forest is caused by the concentration of mammalogists in the south and southeastern regions of the country. Contrary to what is normally believed, mammalian orders received attention according to their species richness, and not their charisma, probably because richer orders provide more study models. We suggest that additional funding mechanisms should be set in place in order to encourage more research on mammalian orders, topics, and states which have been neglected so far, in order to improve the knowledge on important Brazilian mammal biodiversity.
ABSTRACT
Mammals are among the most charismatic and well-studied organisms, and Brazil harbors the largest mammal diversity of the world. The Brazilian Society of Mammalogy was established in 1985, and since 2001 it organizes the Brazilian Congress of Mammalogy. We used the proceedings of all three editions of this congress together with papers indexed in Web of Science and Scielo to evaluate trends in Brazilian mammalogy. All contributions were categorized according to mammalian order, biome, topic of research and state of authors' affiliation. Our results show that mammalian orders with higher species richness receive more attention, but the ranking is different between abstracts and papers. Higher species richness did not translate into more attention for more speciose biomes, and again the ranking was different between papers and abstracts. There are research topics that receive much higher attention than others, and also other important ones, like Taxonomy, that have been neglected. States with greater human populations produce both more papers and abstracts. We conclude that the higher number of publication in the Atlantic Forest is caused by the concentration of mammalogists in the south and southeastern regions of the country. Contrary to what is normally believed, mammalian orders received attention according to their species richness, and not their charisma, probably because richer orders provide more study models. We suggest that additional funding mechanisms should be set in place in order to encourage more research on mammalian orders, topics, and states which have been neglected so far, in order to improve the knowledge on important Brazilian mammal biodiversity.
ABSTRACT
Despite their great ecological and economical importance, there are only few specialized scientific publications dedicated to bats. Chiroptera Neotropical is the only one dedicated to the Neotropical bat fauna. The objective of the present study is to provide a balance of the contribution of Chiroptera Neotropical to bat research over the last 10 years, by analyzing its accomplishments and suggesting ways for its improvement. We surveyed all 52 contributions published in Chiroptera Neotropical from 1995 to 2005. The great majority of articles were written by authors based in South American institutions and most of them in Brazil. Most studies were species inventories, and most of the fieldwork researches were carried out in the Atlantic Forest. Chiroptera Neotropical is already an important medium for disseminating scientific knowledge on Neotropical bats. However, it is time for the journal to grow and to increase its importance in the international scientific community.
Despite their great ecological and economical importance, there are only few specialized scientific publications dedicated to bats. Chiroptera Neotropical is the only one dedicated to the Neotropical bat fauna. The objective of the present study is to provide a balance of the contribution of Chiroptera Neotropical to bat research over the last 10 years, by analyzing its accomplishments and suggesting ways for its improvement. We surveyed all 52 contributions published in Chiroptera Neotropical from 1995 to 2005. The great majority of articles were written by authors based in South American institutions and most of them in Brazil. Most studies were species inventories, and most of the fieldwork researches were carried out in the Atlantic Forest. Chiroptera Neotropical is already an important medium for disseminating scientific knowledge on Neotropical bats. However, it is time for the journal to grow and to increase its importance in the international scientific community.
ABSTRACT
Despite their great ecological and economical importance, there are only few specialized scientific publications dedicated to bats. Chiroptera Neotropical is the only one dedicated to the Neotropical bat fauna. The objective of the present study is to provide a balance of the contribution of Chiroptera Neotropical to bat research over the last 10 years, by analyzing its accomplishments and suggesting ways for its improvement. We surveyed all 52 contributions published in Chiroptera Neotropical from 1995 to 2005. The great majority of articles were written by authors based in South American institutions and most of them in Brazil. Most studies were species inventories, and most of the fieldwork researches were carried out in the Atlantic Forest. Chiroptera Neotropical is already an important medium for disseminating scientific knowledge on Neotropical bats. However, it is time for the journal to grow and to increase its importance in the international scientific community.
Despite their great ecological and economical importance, there are only few specialized scientific publications dedicated to bats. Chiroptera Neotropical is the only one dedicated to the Neotropical bat fauna. The objective of the present study is to provide a balance of the contribution of Chiroptera Neotropical to bat research over the last 10 years, by analyzing its accomplishments and suggesting ways for its improvement. We surveyed all 52 contributions published in Chiroptera Neotropical from 1995 to 2005. The great majority of articles were written by authors based in South American institutions and most of them in Brazil. Most studies were species inventories, and most of the fieldwork researches were carried out in the Atlantic Forest. Chiroptera Neotropical is already an important medium for disseminating scientific knowledge on Neotropical bats. However, it is time for the journal to grow and to increase its importance in the international scientific community.
ABSTRACT
The Atlantic Forest is an ecosystem that is quickly vanishing from southeastern Brazil. Most remaining areas are located in the hills of the Serra do Mar (Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica et al 1998). The reduction of lowland forest has been even more intense. This process threatens the rich animal and plant life in this system. Among mammals, bats are the second most diverse order in this system, being critical for the dynamics of tropical forests (Marinho- Filho 1991).
ABSTRACT
The Atlantic Forest is an ecosystem that is quickly vanishing from southeastern Brazil. Most remaining areas are located in the hills of the Serra do Mar (Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica et al 1998). The reduction of lowland forest has been even more intense. This process threatens the rich animal and plant life in this system. Among mammals, bats are the second most diverse order in this system, being critical for the dynamics of tropical forests (Marinho- Filho 1991).