Flower visiting bats and durian trees: species richness and population size

Hasrul Zaman Hassan Basri, . and Harizah Nadiah Hamzah, . and Muhammad Haffidzie Mohd Shuhaimi, . and Aida Hidayah Abu Samah, . and Nur Hamzah Zulfemi Muhammad, . and Low Suey Yee, . and Muhammad Syamsul Aznan Ariffin, . and Muhammad Aidil Zahidin, . and Siti Nor Shaffinaf Mohamad Shukri, . and Mohamed Nor Zalipah, . Flower visiting bats and durian trees: species richness and population size. pp. 80-90. ISSN 2672-7226

Bats play a vital role in the pollination of durian tree flowers but its population is shrinking due to climate change and excessive hunting. This study tries to determine the bat species richness and population size in a durian orchard. A simple mark-recapture experiment was conducted using mist nets to tag flower-visiting bats of two durian species ” Durio zibethinus and D. lowianus ” at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute orchard in Jerangau Terengganu Peninsular Malaysia. The characteristics and species of captured bats were recorded to estimate the population size using the Schnabel formula for a closed population. A total of 137 individuals were captured comprising four species ” Eonycteris spelaea Cynopterus brachyotis C. horsefieldii and Scotophilus kuhlii. E. spelaea was the most abundant species representing 53 of the total captured individuals. The estimated population size of the bats with 95 confident interval was 1 110 individuals per hectare with an upper range of 10 882 individuals. The large population of bats visiting the durian orchard may indicate the importance of this area as a feeding site particularly for E. spelaea. This further indicates the significant contribution of these flower-visiting bats in the pollination of durian flowers.

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Abstract

Bats play a vital role in the pollination of durian tree flowers but its population is shrinking due to climate change and excessive hunting. This study tries to determine the bat species richness and population size in a durian orchard. A simple mark-recapture experiment was conducted using mist nets to tag flower-visiting bats of two durian species ” Durio zibethinus and D. lowianus ” at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute orchard in Jerangau Terengganu Peninsular Malaysia. The characteristics and species of captured bats were recorded to estimate the population size using the Schnabel formula for a closed population. A total of 137 individuals were captured comprising four species ” Eonycteris spelaea Cynopterus brachyotis C. horsefieldii and Scotophilus kuhlii. E. spelaea was the most abundant species representing 53 of the total captured individuals. The estimated population size of the bats with 95 confident interval was 1 110 individuals per hectare with an upper range of 10 882 individuals. The large population of bats visiting the durian orchard may indicate the importance of this area as a feeding site particularly for E. spelaea. This further indicates the significant contribution of these flower-visiting bats in the pollination of durian flowers.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	Durian
AGROVOC Term:	Bats
AGROVOC Term:	Pollination
AGROVOC Term:	Species
AGROVOC Term:	Durio
AGROVOC Term:	Experiments
AGROVOC Term:	Yield increases
AGROVOC Term:	Plant population
AGROVOC Term:	Size
Depositing User:	Mr. AFANDI ABDUL MALEK
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2025 00:55
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/9979

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