Notes on Bats from Montserrat (Lesser Antilles) with Comments Concerning the Effects of Hurricane Hugo

Authors

Scott C. Pedersen, University of Nebraska State MuseumFollow
Hugh H. Genoways, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Patricia W. Freeman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

5-12-1996

Comments

Published in Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 32, No. 2, 206-213, 1996. http://www.caribjsci.org/
Copyright 1996 College of Arts and Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. Used by permission.

Abstract

From August 1993 to August 1994, bats were surveyed on Montserrat, Lesser Antilles. Four years after this small volcanic island was struck by Hurricane Hugo (1989), there remains a 20-fold decrease in bat populations as compared to levels before Hugo. After the hurricane, composition of the community shifted from smaller frugivorous species to one of more omnivorous and larger frugivorous species. With the addition of a new record for Sturnira thomasi, voucher specimens from Montserrat exist for ten species of Chiroptera: Noctilio leporinus, Monophyllus plethodon, Sturnira tkomasi, Chiroderma improvisum, Artibeus jamaicensis, Ardops nichollsi, Brachyphylla cavernarum, Natalus stramineus, Tadarida brasiliensis, and Molossus molossus.