Abstract:
A study of chiropteran fauna at mangrove area of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu has
been carried out from August 2006 until January 2007. The main objectives for this study
are to generate and produce an updated checklist of bats species at mangrove areas and
also to determine richness, diversity, and abundance of bat species. Two stations were
selected and four mist nets were set randomly at each station. A total of 114 individual
bats and three recaptured were recorded. All the individual bats captured are consist of
five species of family Pteropodidae. Cynopterus brachyotis was dominant with 53
individuals captured, followed by Cynopterus sphinx, Cynopterus horsfieldi, Rousettus
amplexicaudatus and Eonycteris spelaea. The sex ratio of male: female is 1: 1.43. The
highest number of capture was in October. The factors presumed to be influence the
species diversity and their abundance at selected area are weather conditions, vegetations,
fruiting season and the sampling methods. The use of mist net is very suitable to catch
fruit bats but require constant attention. It is suggested attention is needed and different
technique should be applied for future work to overcome the weakness and lower the
potential bias.
