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Eucalyptus cover filtered bat communities toward fewer functional roles in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest

Across 12 forest fragments, Eucalyptus cover was the strongest landscape predictor of bat functional structure.

Evidence
Peer-reviewed
Geography
Minas Gerais, Brazil
System
Atlantic Forest fragments in agricultural / plantation matrix

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS

Mist-net and acoustic surveys detected 34 species/sonotypes. Across a 0–68% Eucalyptus-cover gradient, predicted functional richness and dissimilarity fell while functional redundancy rose; unique larger-bodied and diverse dietary guilds were less associated with Eucalyptus-dominated landscapes.

WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ

Species counts alone can miss functional homogenization in production landscapes. Plantation extent and landscape composition may matter even when bats remain present.

CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY

The study is observational across 12 fragments in one heavily altered landscape, so it cannot isolate plantation cover from every correlated land-use process or establish a universal plantation threshold.

SOURCE

Biodiversity and Conservation
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