Understanding the long term consequences of fragmentation: lessons from the bats of Bijagós (Guinea-Bissau, West Africa)

Long-term habitat fragmentation, such as that experienced by the Bijagós Archipelago in Guinea-Bissau due to sea-level rise around 11,000 years ago, drastically reduces species richness—even for highly mobile taxa like bats. A study of bat assemblages across eight Bijagós islands and nearby coastal regions found that island species richness was only about one-fifth of mainland levels, with generalist and abundant species dominating. Unlike recent human-caused fragmentation, where impacts may be less severe due to lower matrix contrast (e.g., land vs. water), the findings suggest that ongoing habitat loss in high-contrast landscapes will likely lead to further species depletion over time.

Rainho, A., & Palmeirim, J. (2017). Understanding the long term consequences of fragmentation: lessons from the bats of Bijagós (Guinea-Bissau, West Africa) [JB]. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.4404/hystrix-28.2-12350