Phyllostomid frugivorous bats benefit from vegetation complexity in abandoned shade coffee plantations

Abstract

Shade coffee plantations maintain a high diversity of frugivorous bat species with varied functional traits. However, there is limited evidence on how this diversity and functional traits are influenced by variations in vegetation structure. We evaluated the effect of vegetation complexity on the richness, diversity, abundance, and functional traits of frugivorous bat communities (and two functional groups: understory and canopy bat foragers) across three land use types—abandoned shade coffee plantations, active shade coffee plantations, and cattle pastures—in southern Mexico. In four sites for each-land use type, we conducted vegetation and understory- and canopy-foraging frugivorous bats surveys. We captured 680 frugivorous bats belonging to 12 species of the Phyllostomidae family; 76% were understory foragers, and 24% were canopy foragers. Abandoned and active coffee plantations exhibited the highest vegetation complexity and showed higher frugivorous bat richness, diversity, and abundance compared to cattle pastures. We also found differences in the composition and abundance of understory and canopy frugivorous bats between the two coffee plantation types, likely driven by differences in plant composition and vegetation structure. Functional traits of frugivorous bats, such as wing loading and body mass, were generally greater as vegetation complexity decreased, the opposite was found for aspect ratio in canopy frugivores, which were lower in cattle pastures compared to both coffee plantations. This study highlights the importance of current and abandoned shade coffee plantations in frugivorous bat conservation due to their capacity to sustain high species richness and bat communities with varying functional traits.