Bat and bird assemblages from forests and shade cacao plantations in two contrasting landscapes in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil

In the core region of Brazilian cocoa production, shade cacao plantations (so-called cabrucas) are important components of regional landscapes, constituting potential habitat for a vast array of the regional biota. This research focuses on the ability of cabrucas to harbor bird and bat species in two nearby districts - Una and Ilheus - with contrasting landscapes. At Una, cabrucas represent less than 6% of the land and are surrounded by large tracts of forest, whereas at Ilheus these shade plantations are the landscape's dominant feature. Bird and bat communities were richer in cabrucas located in Una compared to nearby forest, while cabrucas from the Ilheus landscape were significantly poorer in species than nearby forest fragments. However, bird assemblages in cabrucas were characterized by the loss of understory specialists and the increase of more open area and generalist species, whereas forest dwellers still comprised most of the bat species reported in cabrucas. Species richness and composition differed between the two landscapes. Forest fragments and cabrucas from Ilheus harbored fewer forest-dwelling species than similar habitats in Una. Our study shows that cabrucas support high species richness of birds and bats from the native assemblages but are no surrogates for intact forests, since the presence and representativeness of some forest species apparently depends on the existence of nearby forests. A landscape dominated by cabrucas with a minor portion of native forest is unlikely to ensure long-term conservation of many target species, particularly those of major conservation concern.