Silvia Lomascolo

Conservation of Flying Foxes in Papua New Guinea

We're looking at the bat's incisors because, if they're lacking, it might be the world's rarest bat, Aproteles bulmearae. The incisors were present.

My project's main goal is to start a monitoring program of Dobsonia moluccensis, a common but heavily hunted bat in the higlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). I am training a female student, Kore Tau, from the University of Papua New Guinea, who will work on this bat for her honours thesis, and will eventually be in charge of the monitoring program. I'm working together with the Wildlife Conservation Society's PNG country program in this project.

More than 90% of PNG's population lives in villages and eats almost exclusively the products of their gardens. Although some domestic animals are bred as a protein source, most people still hunt wildlife. Cave dwelling bats are very easy targets because they can be hunted by the hundreds at one cave. Their meat is greatly appreciated by the villagers, and we fear that hunting trips to caves will become more and more frequent as other wild animals, such as cuscus, wallabies, or tree kangaroos, become rarer. We will eventually enlarge our monitoring program to include another conspicuous and heavily hunted species in the lowlands, Pteropus conspicillatus, but for now we are working around a village called Herowana in the Eastern Highlands province. This is because we suspect that another, very rare bat, might share the caves with the more common Dobsonia moluccensis. Aproteles bulmerae is a highly endangered species that was thought to be extinct until 1993 when one population was rediscovered in Western Province, PNG. If it is still living in those caves, we're positive that we will find it.

This project also includes some work in the lowlands that focuses on the role of bats as seed dispersers of trees of the genus Ficus (Moraceae). This genus is found in almost all tropical forests in the world and are considered a very important resource for all animals, not just bats. This ties up to the main goal of my project as, by understanding the role of bats in the ecosystem we can develp stronger arguments to foster this conservation effort.

Project Update: September 2005

Tissue Sample - Kore is using a punch to obtain tissue samples from the bat’s wing for future genetic analyses.

The monitoring programme for Dobsonia moluccensis is underway now. After the first fieldtrip to train Kore Tau toundertake this project, she has successfully visited various caves and stone holes and started to take reproductive data.

She is also taking data for her honours thesis which aims at identifying what types of caves the bats prefer, and whether it is the cave’s structural parameters, the ecological surroundings of the cave, or human disturbance-related variables that most influences bat choice. She is also taking tissue samples from the bats to eventually do a genetic analysis in this population. I hereby present a summary of her field report as part of this report:

“My name is Kore Tau. Silvia Lomáscolo and the staff from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have trained me to carry on a monitoring programme of Dobsonia moluccensis. I am in the process of collecting data around Herowana Village (Eastern Highlands Province, PNG) for my Honors Thesis. My first trip with Silvia, I visited a cave and some stone holes with bats, collected data on the reproductive condition, and counted population numbers. I also measured some variables inside and outside of the cave and stone holes so as to understand what particular roost characteristics the bats prefer. Importantly I’m also measuring variables of human disturbance to see if this has an effect on the absence or presence of bats in caves or stone holes. This data collection is the beginning of the monitoring programme around Herowana village and will hopefully include the other villages in the Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area in the near future.”

The second part of the project, which focuses on the role of bats as seed dispersers of trees of the genus Ficus (Moraceae), is also continuing successfully. Partial results were presented at the 4th International Symposium in Frugivory and Seed Dispersal, which took place in Brisbane, Australia, this past July.

Final Report

Read about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

File Download	Size
Detailed Final Report.doc	27.5 KB