Diversity and community structure of bats (Chiroptera) in the Centre Region of Cameroon

In this survey, we investigated the diversity and community structure of bats in the Centre Region of Cameroon with respect to their distribution in the different vegetation zones of the region. We mist-netted bats monthly from January 2016 to June 2017 for five nonconsecutive nights per month. Thirty-nine sites were surveyed: 24 in traditional farms, nine in the savannah and six in the forests. A total of 668 bats were captured during 81 nights of capture, covering seven families, 21 genera and 36 species. This included 26 species in traditional farms, 13 species in savannah and 11 species in the forest. Micropteropus pusillus was the most abundant species (30.7%) recorded, followed by Hipposideros ruber (24.9%). The sample efficiency was estimated at 72.1% with fitted species accumulation curves not reaching asymptotes for the three habitat types, suggesting that the survey did not record all the bats present. There was an indication of general increased in abundance of bats during the dry and rainy seasons but it is not significant (Mann–Whitney U: 783.5, p = .195). The rarity index was highest in traditional farms (0.44), followed by savannah (0.38) and then forest (0.33). This preliminary survey provides baseline data on the distribution of bats in the different vegetation types in the Centre Region of Cameroon.