Chiropteran fauna at mangrove areas of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu

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.