Biosphere reserves, designated under The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Man and Biosphere Programme, aim to sustainably integrate protected areas into the biological and economic landscape around them by buffering strictly protected habitats with zones of limited use. However, the effectiveness of biosphere reserves and the contribution of the different zones of use to protection is poorly known. We assessed the diversity and activity of bats in the Crocker Range Biosphere Reserve (CRBR) in Sabah, Malaysia, using harp traps, mist nets and acoustic surveys in each zone—core, buffer, transition and in agricultural plots outside of the reserve. We captured 30 species, bringing the known bat fauna of CRBR to 50 species, half of Borneo’s bat species. Species composition and acoustic activity varied among zones and by foraging ensemble, with the core and buffer showing particular importance for conserving forest-dependent insectivorous bats. Frugivorous bats were found in all zones but were the most abundant and most species-rich ensemble within agricultural sites. Although sampling was limited, bat diversity and activity was low in the transition zone compared to other zones, indicating potential for management practices that increase food availability and enhance biodiversity value. We conclude that, collectively, the zones of the CRBR effectively protect diversity, but the value of the transition zone can be improved.

Islands are generally rich in marine biodiversity, but it also often hides unique and endemic terrestrial wildlife. The data of terrestrial wildlife in Malaysian islands are still severely lacking, notably from small islands. Hence, this study was conducted to survey and update the small mammal diversity (bats and non-volant small mammals) in Pulau Perhentian Kecil, a tourist destination famous for its magnificent, diverse marine life and white sandy beaches. Despite their touristic popularity, very few information is known about the faunal diversity in this island compare to their more massive neighbouring island, Pulau Perhentian Besar. The survey was carried out from 21 to 30 May 2014 recorded 56 individuals encompasses eight species of bats and five species of non-volant small mammals that were captured using mist nets, harp traps, and cage traps. The survey recorded 10 new species locality records for the island in which, five species were never recorded in Pulau Perhentian Besar. Hipposideros dyacorum, Tylonycteris fulvida, T. malayana, Rattus exulans, and Sundamys annandalei are also new distribution records for the Malaysian East Coast islands highlighting the importance of protecting island biodiversity. Nonetheless, it is hoped that this study not only highlights the species diversity on the island but also serve as a data for sustainable island tourism management planning, which will be crucial for the sustainable development and management of this ecologically sensitive area.

This study presents the first confirmed records of Mops johorensis (Dobson, 1873) (Chiroptera, Molossidae) from Borneo. Specimens were recorded at three sites: Sabah (Sungai Kangkawat, 50 m a.s.l) and Sarawak (Lubok Antu, 30 m a.s.l and Mount Penrissen, 1200 m a.s.l). Echolocation analysis revealed site-based variation in call frequencies. Morphological comparisons showed subtle differences between Bornean and Peninsular populations. Genetic analysis using the mitochondrial COI gene showed minimal divergence between Bornean and Peninsular individuals. Spatial modelling identified hotspots for Molos-sidae in northern Sabah and central Sarawak, with habitat suitability strongly influenced by bat and cave density, climate, and land use.

Deforestation is a key driver of habitat loss, transforming extensive forested areas into fragmented, isolated patches with reduced biodiversity. While the patterns of species loss from fragmentation are well documented, the underlying processes driving these patterns remain unclear. We sought to identify the community processes driving the disassembly of tropical insectivorous bat communities in response to forest fragmentation in Malaysia. We measured species richness and four functional diversity metrics across assemblages in continuous forests and forest fragments of varying sizes. Eight traits related to prey detection, acquisition, and processing were used to characterize functional diversity based on a global pool of captured species. We found that species‐poor assemblages represented nested subsets of species‐rich assemblages, indicating that species loss is non‐random. This non‐random loss led to a collapse of functional trait space between 11 and 8 species before stabilizing at a lower richness. Analyses of functional diversity against null expectations showed that assemblages in continuous forests were structured by environmental filtering and niche packing, whereas persistence in fragments was driven by stochastic processes. This pattern, alongside the random occupation of fragments, suggests that fragmentation‐driven disassembly likely arises from a complex interplay between deterministic and stochastic processes. Insights regarding the relative roles of determinism and stochasticity presented herein highlight the collective contribution of habitat fragments to overall landscape‐level diversity and underscore the challenges in identifying priority fragments for conservation. They also emphasize the importance of incorporating functional diversity, rather than solely fragment size and species counts, in landscape‐level conservation planning.