Tree cover loss and intensified land use simplify bat assemblages in Amazonian cacao agroforestry landscapes

Abstract Context Agricultural expansion threatens biodiversity in Amazonian landscapes. Cacao agroforests can support multifunctional bat assemblages, which are sensitive to landscape-level agricultural intensification and may provide information for the development of land-use policies in the Amazon. Objectives We assessed how landscape structure around cacao agroforests affected aerial insectivorous bats and phyllostomid bats (mainly frugivores) and how cropland expansion or reforestation may affect future bat diversity. Methods We recorded aerial insectivores and captured phyllostomids in 28 cacao agroforests in two neighboring regions in the Peruvian Amazon that differ in the proportion of remaining forest and intensified cropland, and analyzed their taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic responses to current and future landscape structure. Results Aerial insectivore activity (an abundance surrogate) and feeding buzzes (a foraging activity indicator) decreased with increasing cropland cover in the non-intensive region only, highlighting the higher vulnerability of these assemblages to cropland expansion. Aerial insectivore phylogenetic diversity, but not functional diversity, decreased with landscape tree cover loss in the non-intensive region. Lower tree cover resulted in higher abundances of dominant frugivores in both regions, while higher edge density was associated with more insect-eating phyllostomids. Frugivore abundance decreased with increasing cropland cover in the intensive region. Our results predicted fewer feeding buzzes and insect-eating phyllsotomids under ongoing deforestation, potentially impacting bat-mediated pest control. Deforestation may also reduce frugivore Simpson diversity in the non-intensive region. Conclusions Limiting monoculture expansion and restoring landscape tree cover could mitigate taxonomic and phylogenetic homogenization of bat assemblages and the loss of potential ecosystem functions in Amazonian agricultural areas.