Abstract

Introduction:  Extensive cattle ranching in tropical dry forest areas (TDF) has caused the transformation of natural ecosystems and has altered the behavior of associated organisms, generating variation in activity patterns. In bats, the activity pattern is affected by the composition and vegetation structure of the ecosystem, and by the climatic season (dry and rainy). Therefore, it is expected that conventional extensive livestock systems, as opposed to silvopastoral systems where environmental heterogeneity is favored, determine the activity of bats.

Objective:  To compare the activity patterns of bats in conventional management systems (CS) and silvopastoral (SPS) of extensive cattle ranching associated with TDF in the Colombian Caribbean.

Methods:  The activity pattern of bats in TDF fragments associated with conventional and silvopastoral systems was compared within an annual cycle. The daily activity patterns of 11 species with records for over 10 days in both livestock management systems were determined.

Results:  A total of 2 788 bats were captured, from six families, 22 genera, and 37 species. Greater bat activity was recorded during the rainy season. We found that although bats show behavioral adaptation to the different management systems (except for Carollia perspicillata, Dermanura phaeotis and Glossophaga soricina), in TDF fragments associated with SPS there is greater bat activity throughout the year, compared to the activity recorded in CS. Likewise, the only nectarivorous species evaluated, G. soricina, also presented the lowest overlap value between the two types of management SC and SSP.

Conclusion:  The TDF fragments associated with SPS, due to the vegetation composition and structure, probably favor the constant supply of resources suitable for the bats’ assemblage stability, especially flowers and fruits.

Key words: agroecosystems; caribbean colombian; Glossophaga soricina; temporal overlap.