Insectivorous bats from Serra do Cipó

In heterogeneous and structurally complex landscapes, the presence of various habitat types results in greater resource availability for inhabiting animal populations. For bat populations, the different features and environmental conditions of heterogeneous landscapes combined with a high capacity for movement allows the use of several different habitats in order to meet demands for shelter, food, and reproduction. However, the use of heterogeneous and natural landscapes by bats in Neotropical regions has rarely been investigated. Heterogeneity of Brazilian landscapes is currently threatened due to increasing land conversion for monoculture and mining, in addition to the greater permissiveness of new environmental laws. We used bioacoustic data to investigate differences in feeding and social activity of insectivorous bats among four habitat types in a heterogeneous landscape of southeastern Brazil: Cerrado, gallery forest, campos rupestres , and karst. We observed differences in the behavior in karst and gallery forest compared to other areas. Specifically, we found an increased social activity with a higher number of species emitting social calls in karst areas, and increased feeding activity with higher numbers of species emitting â feeding buzzâ behavior in gallery forest areas. In addition, we found relationships between these two behavioral signatures and food availability and temperature. Our results suggest that conservation of habitat heterogeneity favors the maintenance of important social and feeding behaviors for insectivorous bats.