Conservation Strategies for Bats Flying at High Altitudes

Voigt, Christian C.; Currie, Shannon E.; Fritze, Marcus; Roeleke, Manuel; Lindecke, Oliver

doi:10.1093/biosci/biy040

Cited by 34 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Hence, minimizing ALAN close to vegetation and adding no further light would benefit particularly P. pygmaeus and Myotis spp. Furthermore, in highly lit areas increased vegetation cover is likely to not only mitigate direct impacts of light on bat activity, but also decrease the spill-over effect of sky glow on high flying bats (Voigt et al, 2018a) which are represented in the NEV group.…”

Section: Influence Of Tree Cover On the Relationship Between Alan Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Cover Mediates the Effect of Artificial Light on Urban Bats

et al. 2019

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With urban areas growing worldwide, so does artificial light at night (ALAN) which negatively affects many nocturnal animals, including bats. The response of bats to ALAN ranges from some opportunistic species taking advantage of insect aggregations around street lamps, particularly those emitting ultraviolet (UV) light, to others avoiding lit areas at all. Tree cover has been suggested to mitigate the negative effects of ALAN on bats by shielding areas against light scatter. Here, we investigated the effect of tree cover on the relationship between ALAN and bats in Berlin, Germany. In particular, we asked if this interaction varies with the UV light spectrum of street lamps and also across urban bat species. We expected trees next to street lamps to block ALAN, making the adjacent habitat more suitable for all species, irrespective of the wavelength spectrum of the light source. Additionally, we expected UV emitting lights next to trees to attract insects and thus, opportunistic bats. In summer 2017, we recorded bat activity at 22 green open spaces in Berlin using automated ultrasonic detectors. We analyzed bat activity patterns and landscape variables (number of street lamps with and without UV light emission, an estimate of light pollution, and tree cover density around each recording site within different spatial scales) using generalized linear mixed-effects models with a negative binomial distribution. We found a species-specific response of bats to street lamps with and without UV light, providing a more detailed picture of ALAN impacts than simply total light radiance. Moreover, we found that dense tree cover dampened the negative effect of street lamps without UV for open-space foraging bats of the genera Nyctalus, Eptesicus, and Vespertilio, yet it amplified the already existing negative or positive effect of street lamps with or without UV on Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus, and Myotis spp. Our study underpins the importance of minimizing artificial light at night close to vegetation, particularly for bats adapted to spatial complexity in the environment (i.e., clutter-adapted species), and to increase dense vegetation in urban landscape to provide, besides roosting opportunities, protection against ALAN for open-space foraging bats in city landscapes.

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Section: Influence Of Tree Cover On the Relationship Between Alan Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Cover Mediates the Effect of Artificial Light on Urban Bats

et al. 2019

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“…The population is, however, declining because the habitat is being deforested for timber, firewood and conversion to agricultural use, disturbance in caves (guano mining, hunting), and eradication of colonies (Csorba et al, 2014). It is unknown whether contaminants or diseases play a role in driving these population declines, yet it is assumed that contaminants, such as pesticide residues or mercury, might be involved (Voigt et al, 2018). Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats are expected to consume 20,000…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of land use on an insectivorous tropical bat: The importance of mercury, physio-immunology and trophic position

Czirják

Bustamante

Bumrungsri

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Deforestation, agricultural intensification, and habitat homogenization are critical threats to biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Limited information is available on the trophic and physiological responses of tropical animals to these environmental changes. The wrinklelipped free-tailed bat Chaerephon plicatus is a cave roosting species that is experiencing population declines across Southeast Asia, where landscapes have been drastically modified.In our study site in central Thailand, we tested the hypothesis that wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats living in landscapes that contrast in heterogeneity and land-use differed in mercury contamination, trophic position and physio-immunological status. Bats from less heterogeneous landscapes (dominated by rice crops, absence of large forest patches) occupied a lower trophic position than conspecifics from more heterogeneous landscapes (including large forest patches). Additionally, bats from these habitats had lower concentrations of mercury in erythrocytes, lower body mass, higher antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD), lower antioxidant glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and lower values of the GPx/SOD ratio than bats from more heterogeneous landscapes. Individual bat mercury concentrations were positively correlated with body mass and two immune markers (lysozyme and immunoglobulin) but were negatively correlated with plasma non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity. Our results suggest various links between landscape heterogeneity, mercury accumulation/exposure, and health status of wildlife in Southeast Asian countries.

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“…If wind farm siting is carefully selected to avoid cooccurrence of high-flying species, WT operational mitigation should be more efficient both to avoid bat mortality and to maximise electrical power production. However, even if some initiatives exist at the regional level, we are aware of no national scheme for the strategy of wind energy planning that considers high-risk areas for birds or bats susceptible to WT collisions (Sordello et al, 2019;Voigt et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%