home icon user icon
Welcome to International Network for Natural Sciences | INNS Pub.
Home My Account
Submit Manuscript
double_slash
breadcumb_bg

Roost ecology, population size, behavioral patterns and morphometric analysis of Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius; Temminck, 1825) in the Goalpara District of Assam, India

Paper Details

Research Paper 12/05/2023
Views (854) Download (72)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Roost ecology, population size, behavioral patterns and morphometric analysis of Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius; Temminck, 1825) in the Goalpara District of Assam, India

JK. Talukdar, AK. Haloi
Int. J. Biosci.22( 5), 111-120, May 2023.
Certificate: IJB 2023 [Generate Certificate]
Key: BehaviourChiropteraIndian flying foxMorphometricsPopulation

Abstract

The present study was conducted at Krishnai Forest Range Office Campus (26°2′ 0″ North, 90°40′ 0″ East) situated at Goalpara district of Assam. Throughout the pre-monsoon season (March–May 2022), the survey location was periodically visited. The current study aims to identify the numerous roosting trees used by Indian flying foxes (P. medius), their diurnal behavioral pattern, and to assess the population size of the species together with their morphometric variations. A large mean colony size (5479 332.99) of P. medius bats was found in the study site, residing in a number of preferred roosting trees (n = 101). In April 2022, a population count of 5509 bats was recorded as the mean population size. However, the population count varies in March (5871) and May (5057). Population fluctuation was mainly due to inter-colony migration and other environmental factors. A very high population density of 4094.91 was recorded. Direct roost count method was used to estimate the population size following standard literature key (Bates and Harrison, 1997). Different times of the day were used to record the diurnal roosting habit patterns of the bats. The most frequent behavior was sleeping, which was followed by grooming, wing flapping, and wing spreading. Two of the few captured bats (n) were used to analyze the morphometric variances. The average body weight of the specimens that were caught was 699 ± 26.87g, and the average forearm length was 172.05 ± 2.616g. When compared to the caught (P. medius) bat species, the mean value of the morphometric measurements revealed a substantial variation. Roosting site selection depends on their abundance, risk of predation, availability and distribution of food resources and physical environment. An essential species for maintaining the ecosystem’s equilibrium is the Indian flying fox. For the reforestation of the forest environment, it is regarded as a crucial method of seed dissemination and pollination. The study site was selected based on the very fact that earlier no prior study was carried out in this roosting site and proved to be a significant area sustaining bats for more than 30 years with approximately 80-85 % of the species (P. medius) roosts as year round.

VIEWS 170
Cover PDF

Ali A. 2010. Population trend and conservation status of Indian flying fox (Pteropus giganteus) Brunnich, 1782 (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) in western Assam. The Ecoscan 4(4), 311-312.

Ali A. 2022. Species diversity of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in Assam, Northeast India. Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity 6(3), 115-125.

Animalia. 2023. Accessed on 16th May 2023. https://Indian Flying Fox – Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio

Bat Conservation International (BCI). 2022. An Unlikely Hero with Global Impact, Available online: Accessed on 25 March 2022. https://www.batcon. org/about-bats/bats-101/

Bates PJJ, Harrison DL. 1997. Bats of the Indian Subcontinent, Harrison Zoological Museum Publications, Sevenoaks, UK 1- 258.

Bennet M. 1993. Structural modifications involved in the fore and hind limb grip of some flying foxes, Chiroptera: Pteropodidae, J. Zool. London 229, 237-248.

Bhandarkar SV, Paliwal GT. 2018. Ecological notes on roosts of Pteropus Giganteus (Brunnich, 1782) in eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra. International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation, ISSN: 0975 – 6272.

Boro A, Saikia PK, Saikia U. 2018. New records of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from Assam, northeastern India with a distribution list of the bat fauna of the state, Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(5), 11606-11612. DOI: 10.11609/jot.3871.10.5.11606-11612

Brigham RM, Aldridge HDJN, Mackey RL. 1992. Variation in habitat use and prey selection by yuma bats, Myotis yumanensis . Journal of Mammalogy 73, 640-645.

Census of India. 2011. District Census Handbook Goalpara, Village and Town Directory, Assam. Series-19, Part XII-A, 63-403.Climate Goalpara (India). 2022. Available online: https://en.climatedata24654/.

Fenton MB, Robert MRB. 1980. Mammalian Species. American Society of Mammalogists. No. 142, Myotis lucifugus pp. 1-8 (8 pages).  https://doi.org/10. 2307 /3503792

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2021. Gbif (Online).https://www.gbif.org. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021

Gulshan A. 2021. Why our city’s bats are most misunderstood. The Hindu (Online). https://www. thehindu.com. Accessed 02 May .2021

Handley D, Elisabeth KVK, Handley OC. 1996. Long-Term Studies of Vertebrate Communities 1996., chptr 16: Organization, Diversity, and Long-Term Dynamics of a Neotropical Bat Community. Pages 503-553.

Herd RM, Fenton MB. 1983. An electrophoretic, morphological, and ecological investigation of a putative hybrid zone between Myotis lucifugus and Myotis yumanensis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), Canadian Journal of Zoology 61(9), 2029-2050

Hill JE, Smith JD. 1984. Bats: A Natural History, British Museum (Natural History), London.

Hutson AM, Mickleburgh SP, Racey PA. 2001. Microchiropteran Bats. Global Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Chiroptera Specialist, Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK.

Jeyapraba L. 2016. Roosting Ecology of PteropusGiganteus (Brunnich , 1782) Indian Flying Fox And Threats For Their Survival, IJCRD 1, ISSN (Online), 2456 – 3137pp.

Kate B. 1999. Expedition field techniques: Bats 1999, ISBN 978-0-907649-82-3.Royal Geographical Society with IBG, 1 Kensington Gore London, SW7 2AR.

Khatun M, Ali A, Sarma S. 2014. Population fluctuation at Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus giganteus) colonies in the Kacharighat Roosting Site of Dhubri district of Assam, Int. J. Pure App. Biosci 2(4), 184-188.

Koopman KF. 1993. Order Chiroptera. In Mammal Species of the World (eds D.E. Wilson & D.M. Reeder), pp. 137-232, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.

Krystufek B. 2009. On the Indian flying fox (Pteropusgiganteus) colony in Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, Srilanka” .Hystrix It. Journal of Mammalogy 20(1), 29-35.

Kunz TH. 1982. Roosting ecology. In: Ecology of bats (Kunz., TH. ed). Plenum publishing. New York. pp 1-55.

Kunz TH. 1988. Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. 1st ed. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Mickleburgh SP, Hutson MA, Racey PA. 2002. A review of the global conservation status of bats. Oryx 36(1), 18-34

Nowak RM. 1999. Walker’s mammals of the world. 6th edition, The Johns Hopins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland 1(1), 836.

Rahman A, Choudhury P. 2017. Status and population trend of chiropterans in Southern Assam, India. Biodiversity International Journal 1(4), 121-132. DOI: 10.15406/bij.2017.01.00018.

Rainey WE, Pierson ED. 1992. Distribution of Pacific Island flying foxes. In: Proceedings of an International Conservation Conference, D.E. Wilson and G.L. Graham, (Eds). U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Biol. Rept, pp 111-121.

Saha A, Hasan KM, Feeroz MM. 2015. Diversity and Morphometry of Chiropteran Fauna in Jahangirnagar University Campus, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 43(2).

Saikia U. 2018. A review of Chiropterological studies and a distributional list of the Bat Fauna of India 118(3), DOI: 10.26515/rzsi/v118/i3/2018/121056

Saikia U. 2019. Demystifying bats from enigma to science, MOEF, ZSI, Shillong 1-13pp.

Sharma P, Rai M. 2020. Population Status of Indian Flying Fox, Pteropus giganteus in Urban Guwahati, Assam, India: A Case Study, Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences 8(5), 287-293. DOI: 10.12691/aees-8-5-16.

Simmons NB. 2005. Order Chiroptera. In: Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference”, D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder, eds., Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Sinha YP. 1980. The bats of Rajasthan : Taxonomy and zoogeography. Rec. zool. Surv. India 76, 7-63.

Sinha YP. 1999. Contribution to the knowledge of Bats (Mammalia : Chiroptera) of North Eastm Hills, India. Rec. zool. Surv. India, Occ. Paper No. 174, 1-52.

Springer MS, Teeling EC, Madsen O, Stanhope MJ, de Jong WW. 2001. Integrated fossil and molecular data reconstruct bat echolocation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, 6241-6246.

Srinivasulu C, Racey AP, Mistry S. 2010. A key to the bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of South Asia. Journal of Threatened Taxa, ISSN 0974-7907 (online).

Suga N. 2009. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Elsevier Ltd. ISBN, 978-0-08-045046-9.

Talmale SS, Saikia U. 2018. Fauna of India Checklist: A Checklist of Indian Bat Species (Mammalia: Chiroptera), Zoological Survey of India, Version 2.0. Online publication, 1-17 pp.

Teeling E, Madsen O, Bussche RVD, Jong W, Stanhope M, Springer M. 2002. Microbat monophyly and the convergent evolution of a key innovation in old world rhinolophoid microbats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99, 1431-1436.

The Animal Diversity Web. 2021. The Animal Diversity Web (online). https://animaldiversity.org. Accessed 24 May. 2022.

Thomas WD. 1988. The Distribution of Bats in Different Ages of Douglas-Fir Forests. The Journal of Wildlife Management 52(4), 619-626.

Thong VD, Mao XG, Csorba P, Ruedi M, Viet NV, Loi DN, Nha PV, Chachula O, Tuan TA, Son TN, Fukui D, Saikia U. 2018. First records of Myotisaltarium (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from India and Vietnam. Mammal Study 43, 67-73pp.

Wilson DE, Reeder DM. 2005. Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference, 3rd ed: 1-2142.

Submit Manuscript