A mosaic of opportunities? Spatio-temporal patterns of bat diversity and activity in a strongly humanized Mediterranean wetland

Mendes, Eduardo; Pereira, María João Ramos; Marques, Sara; Fonseca, Carlos

doi:10.1007/s10344-014-0832-1

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Some bat species avoid busy roadways [96] but in San Francisco bats must fly above busy streets or stay within parks that offer both roosting and foraging habitat. Finally, much of the forested areas in San Francisco consist of eucalyptus or pine species, and lower than expected bat diversity has been documented in forests primarily composed of eucalyptus [97] or pine [50], as has reduced arthropod abundance [98] and bird diversity [99]. Bat species known to forage in mature native forest such as M .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Bat Distribution and Foraging Activity in a Highly Urbanized Temperate Environment

Krauel

LeBuhn

2016

PLoS ONE

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Understanding how to manage biodiversity in urban areas will become increasingly important as density of humans residing in urban centers increases and urban areas expand. While considerable research has documented the shifts in biodiversity along urbanization gradients, much less work has focused on how characteristics of dense urban centers, effectively novel environments, influence behavior and biodiversity. Urban bats in San Francisco provide an opportunity to document changes in behavior and biodiversity to very high-density development. We studied (1) the distribution and abundance of bat foraging activity in natural areas; and (2) characteristics of natural areas that influence the observed patterns of distribution and foraging activity. We conducted acoustic surveys of twenty-two parks during 2008–2009. We confirmed the presence of four species of bats (Tadarida brasiliensis, Myotis yumanensis, Lasiurus blossevillii, and M. lucifugus). T. brasiliensis were found in all parks, while M. yumanensis occurred in 36% of parks. Results indicate that proximity to water, park size, and amount of forest edge best explained overall foraging activity. Proximity to water best explained species richness. M. yumanensis activity was best explained by reduced proportion of native vegetation as well as proximity to water. Activity was year round but diminished in December. We show that although bats are present even in very densely populated urban centers, there is a large reduction in species richness compared to that of outlying areas, and that most habitat factors explaining their community composition and activity patterns are similar to those documented in less urbanized environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Bat Distribution and Foraging Activity in a Highly Urbanized Temperate Environment

Krauel

LeBuhn

2016

PLoS ONE

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“…Although we know that bats respond to changes in both fine-scale vegetation structure and landscape-scale composition and configuration (Brigham et al, 1997;Fuentes-Montemayor et al, 2013;Gehrt and Chelsvig, 2003;Kalda et al, 2015;Monadjem and Reside, 2008) these relationships are often a function of spatial scale (Gorresen et al, 2005;Mendes et al, 2017;Pinto and Keitt, 2008). Additionally, bats' response to land cover varies greatly between regions, biomes, seasons (Ferreira et al, 2017;Klingbeil and Willig, 2010;Mendes et al, 2014), and species or guilds (Gorresen et al, 2005;Klingbeil and Willig, 2009;Mendes et al, 2017;Müller et al, 2012). To date, most research on the impacts of land-cover change on bats has been conducted in forest biomes (Estrada-Villegas et al, 2010;Ferreira et al, 2017;Pinto and Keitt, 2008;Williams-Guillén and Perfecto, 2011), limiting our ability to generalize patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of bat activity to land cover and land use in savannas is scale-, season-, and guild-specific

Shapiro

Monadjem

Röder

et al. 2020

Biological Conservation

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Tropical savannas are biomes of global importance that are under severe pressure from anthropogenic change, including land-cover and land-use change. Bats, the second-most diverse group of mammals, are critical to ecosystem functioning, but may be vulnerable to such anthropogenic stresses. However, there is little information on the response of savanna bats to land-cover and land-use change, especially in Africa. This limits our ability to develop conservation strategies for bats and maintain the ecosystem functions and services they provide in this biome. Using acoustic monitoring, we measured how guild-specific (aerial, edge, and clutter forager) bat activity responded to both fine-scale metrics of vegetation structure and landscape-scale metrics of land-cover composition and configuration across the wet and dry seasons in a savanna in southern Africa undergoing rapid land-cover and land-use change. We found that all three guilds responded more strongly to landscape metrics than fine-scale vegetation structure, although the specific metrics varied between guilds. Aerial and edge bats responded most strongly to the percent savanna cover and savanna fragmentation in both seasons while clutter bats responded to percent rural cover in the wet season and percent water cover in the dry. All three guilds responded more strongly to the landscape in the dry season than the wet season. Our results show it is possible to conserve bats, and the ecosystem services they can provide, in savannas undergoing anthropogenic land-use and land-cover change but strategies to do so must consider foraging guild, large spatial scales, and seasonal variation in bat activity.

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“…Urbanization is one of the most dramatic forms of land-use change (Lintott et al 2015) and it is difficult to predict how it will affect individual species (Mehr et al 2011; Hale et al 2012; Lintott et al 2015; Jung and Threlfall 2018; Santini et al 2019). Many bats, such as P. pipistrellus , exploit urban environments (Mendes et al 2014; Hale et al 2015), especially for roosting, water, and foraging under lights (Russo and Ancillotto 2015). However, this also exposes them to urban risks, including predation (Woods et al 2003).…”

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confidence: 99%

Characterizing wing tears in common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus): investigating tear distribution, wing strength, and possible causes

Khayat

Shaw

Dougill

et al. 2019

Journal of Mammalogy

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Bats have large, thin wings that are particularly susceptible to tearing. Anatomical specializations, such as fiber reinforcement, strengthen the wing and increase its resistance to puncture, and an extensive vasculature system across the wing also promotes healing. We investigated whether tear positioning is associated with anatomy in common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). Wing anatomy was described using histological techniques, imaging, and material testing. Tear information, including type, position, time in rehabilitation, and possible causes, was collected from rehabilitators of injured bats across the United Kingdom. Results suggest that the position of the plagiopatagium (the most proximal wing section to the body), rather than its anatomy, influenced the number, location, and orientation of wing tears. While material testing did not identify the plagiopatagium as being significantly weaker than the chiropatagium (the more distal sections of the wing), the plagiopatagium tended to have the most tears. The position of the tears, close to the body and toward the trailing edge, suggests that they are caused by predator attacks, such as from a cat (Felis catus), rather than collisions. Consistent with this, 38% of P. pipistrellus individuals had confirmed wing tears caused by cats, with an additional 38% identified by rehabilitators as due to suspected cat attacks. The plagiopatagium had the lowest number of blood vessels and highest amounts of elastin fibers, suggesting that healing may take longer in this section. Further investigations into the causes of tears, and their effect on flight capabilities, will help to improve bat rehabilitation.

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A mosaic of opportunities? Spatio-temporal patterns of bat diversity and activity in a strongly humanized Mediterranean wetland

Cited by 19 publications

References 87 publications

Patterns of Bat Distribution and Foraging Activity in a Highly Urbanized Temperate Environment

Patterns of Bat Distribution and Foraging Activity in a Highly Urbanized Temperate Environment

Response of bat activity to land cover and land use in savannas is scale-, season-, and guild-specific

Characterizing wing tears in common pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus): investigating tear distribution, wing strength, and possible causes

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