Livingstone’s Flying-Fox Populations in the Comoros Islands to Inform a Relevant Conservation Plan

21 Mar 2016 Mohéli, Comoros, Africa Bats | Forests | Mammals

Ali Cheha

This project aims at developing a non-invasive protocol to model the Livingstone's bat population dynamic and to develop specific recommendations to set-up an optimized long-term monitoring program.

P.seychellensis comorensis. © Thani.

P.seychellensis comorensis. © Thani.

Livingston’s flying fox (Pteropus livingstonii) is one of the mostly threatened species by the habitat loss in the Comoros islands. Its population size is estimated to less than 1200 individuals in the islands. In these islands, little information is known about population dynamic and genetic diversity of this species. This lack of basic knowledge precludes the development of evidence-based conservation strategies.

Our aim is to develop an individual monitoring protocol to model population dynamics of the species using non-invasive method, to explore the impact of habitat fragmentation on population genetic and explore whether the few sub-populations are still connected.

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