Species specific effects of prescribed burns on bat occupancy in northwest Arkansas

Blanco, Cristina M; Garrie, Jorista

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2020.117890

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…We have limited understanding of how bats may benefit from prescribed burning, though it appears to be highly dependent on species (Loeb & Blakey, 2021). Burning changes the forest structure in ways that can be beneficial to some species, regardless of prey availability (Armitage & Ober, 2012), whereas other bat species select habitat based on insect availability in addition to forest structure (Blanco & Garrie, 2020). A clutter‐adapted bat would likely avoid previously burned areas (López‐Baucells et al, 2021), but for a cavity‐roosting bat such as the Evening bat, it may provide additional roosting habitat (Boyles & Aubrey, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on forestry management: How do bats fit in?

Hohoff,

Rogness,

Davis

2024

Conservat Sci and Prac

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In the last decade, bat conservation guidance has received increasing attention, as many United States bat species are in decline due to white‐nose syndrome and have been listed or considered for federal endangered species status. Research on how these species are impacted by forestry management decisions has advanced to provide specific conservation actions for these imperiled species. We set out to better understand the level of knowledge land managers had in relation to forestry techniques and their impact on wildlife conservation in order to more effectively strategize how we can efficiently provide educational resources. We surveyed 78 land managers in Illinois to identify their priorities for management and how familiar they were with forestry management guidelines for bat conservation. We followed up with a subset of voluntary participants with semistructured phone interviews to generate more in‐depth responses. Using these tools, we reveal that a top priority for most managers in Illinois is invasive species management. Most have some familiarity with bat conservation actions, but few were confident in their knowledge of threatened and endangered species. Thirteen of the twenty phone interviews identified a preference for talking to/hearing from experts to receive information on bat conservation. These results highlighted where there are information gaps on best practices for forestry management from a conservation perspective, and identified how we can best address these through partnerships with land managers. Implementation of these practices is likely how recovery of these vulnerable species will happen—through protection of their basic needs, including availability of roosts, abundance of prey, and access to uncontaminated water resources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives on forestry management: How do bats fit in?

Hohoff,

Rogness,

Davis

2024

Conservat Sci and Prac

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“…However, some edge-and edge/open-space foraging bats in two studies in northern Australia (Inkster-Draper et al 2013;Broken-Brow et al 2020) show negative responses to prescribed fire although in one study, this only occurred after high-intensity fires (Additional file 1). Reduction in vegetation clutter or the creation of small gaps due to prescribed fire most likely contributes to the increase in bat use in response to prescribed fire compared to control sites (e.g., Smith and Gehrt 2010;Cox et al 2016;Griffitts 2016;Silvis et al 2016;Burns et al 2019;Blanco and Garrie 2020;Smith et al 2020). Foraging efficiency is higher in more open habitats, particularly for edgeand open-space foragers (Aldridge and Rautenbach 1987;Fenton 1990).…”

Section: Bat Responses To Burned Versus Unburned Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bats and fire: a global review

Loeb

Blakey

2021

fire ecol

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Background Bats are important components of forested ecosystems and are found in forests worldwide. Consequently, they often interact with fire. Previous reviews of the effects of fire on bats have focused on prescribed fire effects, in part due to the limited number of studies on bat responses to wildfire. However, over the past several years, studies on bat responses to wildfire and prescribed fire have increased considerably. We reviewed this rapidly expanding body of literature to determine whether bats respond differently to prescribed fire and wildfire, and the important factors driving those differences. We also examined regional similarities and differences in bat response to prescribed fire and wildfire and identified areas in need of further research. Results Our review included 52 studies (29 prescribed fire, 23 wildfire) from North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Africa, although studies from Europe, South America, and Africa were limited. In general, we found that bats show positive or neutral responses to prescribed fire, whereas a greater proportion of negative responses were reported for wildfire. However, some of the negative responses to wildfire are short-lived or local, suggesting that bats may be resilient to the effects of fire. Factors such as fire severity, fire frequency, time since last burn, burn extent, season of burn, and pyrodiversity were all found to be important drivers of bats’ responses to both prescribed fire and wildfire. Conclusions The importance of the spatial and temporal aspects of fire suggests that these factors need to be considered when designing future studies and interpreting results. Pyrodiversity may be a particularly important concept to further our understanding of bats’ responses to fire. We found several gaps in our knowledge including lack of information on direct effects of fire (e.g., mortality), regional and taxonomic biases, effects of wildfire on roosting habitat, and the effects of climate change. Although current studies suggest that fire may be an important management tool for improving bat habitat, the threat of more frequent, extensive, and severe wildfires may put additional stress on some bat populations, particularly those being impacted by disease, habitat loss and fragmentation, and climate change.

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“…Therefore, the role of substrates is significant in situations where viable pathogens from an environmental substrate can re-infect hosts or remain as an environmental reservoir 20 – 22 . Understanding the growth and survival of pathogens on environmental substrates is critical to inform management interventions that might sanitize or modify structures to reduce transmission risk 23 , 24 . Obtaining a better insight about links among substrates, pathogen and hosts will improve our knowledge of pathogen transmission and inform actions and strategies for disease mitigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pseudogymnoascus destructans growth in wood, soil and guano substrates

Urbina

Chestnut

Allen

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Understanding how a pathogen can grow on different substrates and how this growth impacts its dispersal are critical to understanding the risks and control of emerging infectious diseases. Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) causes white-nose syndrome (WNS) in many bat species and can persist in, and transmit from, the environment. We experimentally evaluated Pd growth on common substrates to better understand mechanisms of pathogen persistence, transmission and viability. We inoculated autoclaved guano, fresh guano, soil, and wood with live Pd fungus and evaluated (1) whether Pd grows or persists on each (2) if spores of the fungus remain viable 4 months after inoculation on each substrate, and (3) whether detection and quantitation of Pd on swabs is sensitive to the choice to two commonly used DNA extraction kits. After inoculating each substrate with 460,000 Pd spores, we collected ~ 0.20 g of guano and soil, and swabs from wood every 16 days for 64 days to quantify pathogen load through time using real-time qPCR. We detected Pd on all substrates over the course of the experiment. We observed a tenfold increase in pathogen loads on autoclaved guano and persistence but not growth in fresh guano. Pathogen loads increased marginally on wood but declined ~ 60-fold in soil. After four months, apparently viable spores were harvested from all substrates but germination did not occur from fresh guano. We additionally found that detection and quantitation of Pd from swabs of wood surfaces is sensitive to the DNA extraction method. The commonly used PrepMan Ultra Reagent protocol yielded substantially less DNA than did the QIAGEN DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit. Notably the PrepMan Ultra Reagent failed to detect Pd in many wood swabs that were detected by QIAGEN and were subsequently found to contain substantial live conidia. Our results indicate that Pd can persist or even grow on common environmental substrates with results dependent on whether microbial competitors have been eliminated. Although we observed clear rapid declines in Pd on soil, viable spores were harvested four months after inoculation. These results suggest that environmental substrates and guano can in general serve as infectious environmental reservoirs due to long-term persistence, and even growth, of live Pd. This should inform management interventions to sanitize or modify structures to reduce transmission risk as well early detection rapid response (EDRR) planning.

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Species specific effects of prescribed burns on bat occupancy in northwest Arkansas

Cited by 6 publications

References 50 publications

Perspectives on forestry management: How do bats fit in?

Perspectives on forestry management: How do bats fit in?

Bats and fire: a global review

Pseudogymnoascus destructans growth in wood, soil and guano substrates

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