Bat Community and Roost Site Selection of Tree-Dwelling Bats in a Well-Preserved European Lowland Forest

Dietz, Markus; Brombacher, Michael; Erasmy, Maude; Fenchuk, Viktar; Simon, Olaf

doi:10.3161/15081109acc2018.20.1.008

Cited by 38 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In addition, Glendell and Vaughan (2002) found forest plantations to be suitable habitats for bats, as they showed that bats similarly forage in semi-natural and plantation woodlands. Bats depend on a variety of landscape and habitat properties, for example forest edge structures for commuting and foraging (Hein et al 2009;Kelm et al 2014;Morris et al 2010;Jantzen and Fenton 2013), open patches (Loeb and O'Keefe 2006;Perry et al 2007;Kirkpatrick et al 2017b), diverse surrounding landscape compositions (Boughey et al 2011;Frey-Ehrenbold et al 2013;Heim et al 2018), water bodies (Morris et al 2009;Heim et al 2018) and roosting sites (Kühnert et al 2016;Coronado et al 2017;Dietz et al 2018). However, all these features potentially exist in all diverse, near-natural and mono-specific forest plantations (Cruz et al 2016;Kirkpatrick et al 2017a).…”

Section: Impact Of Forest Typementioning

confidence: 99%

Mono-specific forest plantations are valuable bat habitats: implications for wind energy development

Buchholz

Kelm²,

Ghanem³

2020

Eur J Wildl Res

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Near-natural or semi-natural forests such as relatively undisturbed and old deciduous or mixed woodland are considered worth protecting and ecologically valuable habitats for bat conservation. In contrast, mono-specific forest plantations are considered ecologically less valuable; thus, decision-makers recommend these plantations as suitable locations for wind power stations and therefore want to further expand wind turbines in these habitats. This is expected to have a strong negative impact on the landscape because forests would be cleared for wind turbine pads and access roads and wind turbines rise above the trees with adverse impacts for bats. Therefore, we argue that, in light of bat conservation, the suitability of forest plantations for wind energy development is not, per se, warranted and that implications of wind power stations, even in mono-specific forest plantations, should be assessed and evaluated. We conducted long-term bat activity monitoring and recorded bat echolocation calls above the canopies of different forest sites (coniferous monoculture plantations and semi-natural mixed deciduous forests) in Germany and compared different forest types in terms of species richness, total bat activity, activity of the three bat species groups and species composition. Generalised linear models revealed that forest type and the amount of forest biotopes did not enhance bat activity. Ordination showed that species composition was not affected by forest type, location and connectivity. Mono-specific forest plantations can harbour a diverse bat fauna with high species activity and are, therefore, valuable bat habitats just as near-natural or semi-natural woodlands are. Environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures are vital in all forest types before and after planning for wind energy turbines. In particular, future planning and approval processes must consider the importance of mono-specific forest plantations for bat species protection.

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Section: Impact Of Forest Typementioning

confidence: 99%

Mono-specific forest plantations are valuable bat habitats: implications for wind energy development

Buchholz

Kelm²,

Ghanem³

2020

Eur J Wildl Res

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“…What is particularly interesting is that barbastelles show unexpected flexibility regarding habitat and roost selection in face of lack of natural alternatives. For example, despite being believed to be dependent on natural roosts in mature old growth deciduous forest (Denzinger et al 2001, Russo et al 2004, Hillen et al 2009, Kühnert et al 2016, Carr et al 2018, Dietz et al 2018, all 18 breeding colonies of barbastelles recorded in Poland to date were located in man-made structures (Gottfried et al 2017). A similar pattern is to be found in Sweden there two breeding colonies were discovered in barns during radio tracking study carried out in summer season of 2016 (Apoznański et al 2018).…”

Section: Importance Of Coniferous Plantationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of coniferous plantations by bats in western Poland during summer

Apoznański¹,

Kokurewicz²,

Błesznowska³

et al. 2020

BALT FOR

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Mixed commercial plantation forests often receive little or no attention in terms of conservation of protected habitats and species. This study was aimed at assessing the value of such habitats for bats. In July 2015 we used standardised mist netting in 11 locations within and near the Natura 2000 sites “Nietoperek” and “Buczyny Łagowsko-Sulęcińskie” in western Poland. Particular attention was paid to mixed plantation forest, usually dominated by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Natural and protected habitats, i.e. riparian woodlands and beech forest were also investigated for comparison. In total 96 bats of 12 species were caught. The highest number of bats (15.0 individuals caught per night) and the highest biodiversity index (H´) was recorded in localities situated in mixed plantation forest. Contrary to common evaluation of this type of habitat, mixed plantation forest may serve important role for local bat populations by providing commuting corridors and possibly also foraging areas. Keywords: Barbastella barbastellus, bat conservation, coniferous plantations, Myotis myotis

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“…B07 P. pygmaeus also uses trees as day roosts (Bartonička et al 2008, Kirkpatrick et al 2018, Dietz et al 2018 9 Conservation measures…”

Section: Long-term Trend Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Staat van instandhouding (status en trends) van de soorten van de Habitatrichtlijn Deelrapport vleermuizen (rapportageperiode 2013-2018)

2019

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Rapporten van het Instituut voor Natuur-en Bosonderzoek 2019 (19) 9 3 Beoordelingsmatrix van de staat van instandhouding van een soort Parameter Conservation Status Favourable ('green') Unfavourable-If 'yes, other measures' have been taken, describe those measures Free text www.inbo.be Rapporten van het Instituut voor Natuur-en Bosonderzoek 2019 (19) 13 Rapporten van het Instituut voor Natuur-en Bosonderzoek 2019 (19) www.inbo.be BIOGEOGRAPHICAL LEVEL Complete for each biogeographical region or marine region concerned. 4 Biogeographical and marine regions Flanders (ATL & CON) Atlantic Flanders 4.1 Biogeographical or marine region where the species occurs

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Bat Community and Roost Site Selection of Tree-Dwelling Bats in a Well-Preserved European Lowland Forest

Cited by 38 publications

References 31 publications

Mono-specific forest plantations are valuable bat habitats: implications for wind energy development

Mono-specific forest plantations are valuable bat habitats: implications for wind energy development

Use of coniferous plantations by bats in western Poland during summer

Staat van instandhouding (status en trends) van de soorten van de Habitatrichtlijn Deelrapport vleermuizen (rapportageperiode 2013-2018)

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