Herpetofauna and bat monitoring at three Fiji sites in the Pacific-Asia Biodiversity Transect (PABITRA)

Abstract

Herpetofauna and bats are two important indicator taxa in Fiji's forests. Herpetofauna (especially frogs) are good indicators of riparian forest health and the presence of introduced predator species while bats are excellent indicators of the forest tree diversity and general forest disturbance. Despite these important roles, prior to 2006 the monitoring of these two taxonomic groups had remained largely qualitative in Fiji PABITRA sites. The reasons for this were primarily due to very low abundances, making quantitative surveys largely cost and time-ineffective (reptiles) and the low survey effort (bats), resulting in incomplete baseline information. In total two frog species, eight reptiles and three bats have been found in three Fiji PABITRA sites on Viti Levu (Savura Reserve, Sovi Basin and Wabu Reserve). Sufficient information has now been collected to determine the optimal methods to begin quantitatively monitoring populations of these taxonomic groups in future surveys.