The diets of British bats (Chiroptera)

Vaughan, N. D.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.1997.tb00373.x

Cited by 240 publications

(210 citation statements)

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“…B. barbastellus is classified as near threatened in the IUCN redlist (www.iucnredlist.org) and as vulnerable or endangered in many countries of Central Europe (Hutson, Mickleburgh & Racey, 2001). Barbastella barbastellus hunts for moths along forest edges and along the canopy surface (Sierro & Arlettaz, 1997;Vaughan, 1997). It occurs in different forest types, especially in European beech Fagus sylvatica forests but also in pine and spruce forests, where it roosts mainly in tree cavities and behind loose bark (Steinhauser et al, 2002;Russo et al, 2004;Russo, Cistrone & Jones, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beauty and the beast: how a bat utilizes forests shaped by outbreaks of an insect pest

Kortmann

Hurst

Brinkmann

et al. 2017

Animal Conservation

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The consequences of different management strategies following natural disturbances are a matter of global concern. In former production forests around the Northern Hemisphere, the abandonment of intervention, such as removal of dead wood, after outbreaks of bark beetles has been increasingly promoted to regain more natural conditions. However, many focal species of conservation, such as the barbastelle bat Barbastella barbastellus, do not primarily depend on dead wood but might respond indirectly to disturbance-induced changes of forest structural attributes. We investigated the response of B. barbastellus foraging activity and roost selection by combining acoustic surveys, radio telemetry, and airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to characterize B. barbastellus habitat use on different scales. B. barbastellus foraging activity increased with increasing canopy opening. Maternity colonies were recorded exclusively in trees killed by bark beetles. Bats preferred roost trees with a higher volume (m 3 ha À1 ) of live trees in the surrounding, and trees with on average larger diameters than nearby control trees. Our results revealed that outbreaks of bark beetles result in forest structural attributes that are suitable habitat for B. barbastellus. Salvage logging, i.e., the removal of beetleaffected trees, generally deteriorates the positive effects of bark-beetle outbreaks on the foraging and roosting habitat of B. barbastellus. We recommend maintaining snags of large diameter if salvage logging is mandatory.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beauty and the beast: how a bat utilizes forests shaped by outbreaks of an insect pest

Kortmann

Hurst

Brinkmann

et al. 2017

Animal Conservation

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“…Bats are 'multi-habitat' animals, using a number of different habitats that provide the functions of daily roosts, breeding sites, winter roosts, commuting routes, drinking and foraging sites. Despite significant plasticity in the choice of roost and foraging sites, as well as a broad spectrum of diet (Vaughan 1997), these mammals prefer some particular habitats during night-time activity (Vaughan et al 1997a). These include some prominent structures that appear only after heavy transformation of the landscape by humans, most notably tree lines (Verboom and Huitema 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat preferences of bats in anthropogenically altered, mosaic landscapes of northern Poland

Ciechanowski

2015

Eur J Wildl Res

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Few studies refer to the large-scale habitat preferences of bat assemblages in temperate mainland Europe. The study aimed at habitat associations of bats in the postglacial lakelands of northern Poland. Sixty-nine walking transects were divided into sections belonging to 36 habitat classes. Broadband ultrasound detectors were applied to record bat echolocation calls, identified to the species level by spectral analysis. Selection or avoidance of habitat categories was tested using Z statistic with a Bonferroni adjustment, and niche breadth was estimated by calculating Levin's formula and niche overlap-Pianka index. All bats (except Eptesicus serotinus) selected water bodies. They avoided arable land, coniferous and mixed forests, their edges and suburbs. Nyctalus noctula was the most eurytopic species, using most habitats in proportion to their availability. E. serotinus selected villages and roads in coniferous forests. Narrower habitat niches were occupied by morphologically similar pipistrelles. Pipistrellus pipistrellus preferred tree lines, Pipistrellus nathusii avoided tree lines and villages, and Pipistrellus pygmaeus preferred roads in deciduous forests but avoided tree lines. The most stenotopic Myotis sp. avoided roads in mixed and coniferous forests, tree lines and built-up areas. Most species strongly overlapped in habitat niches, and thus, their resource partitioning was probably based on using different hunting tactics. P. pygmaeus, although considered a sibling species of P. pipistrellus, overlapped in habitat niche much more with P. nathusii. In the latter case, resource partitioning may result from larger differences in body size and frequency of echolocation calls. The importance of water bodies for bats was higher than in Western Europe, and importance of woodland was lower, presumably due to much higher limnicity. The results provide a base for regionspecific landscape planning guidelines, applicable to bat conservation.

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“…As beavers extend riparian habitats, they improve the habitat quality for bats and provide them with large areas where prey is much more abundant than over the shallow and narrow streams. Moreover, biomass of emerging chironomids, an important prey of Pipistrellus and Nyctalus (Vaughan 1997), increased in the valley section after construction of a beaver dam, at least during the first few years (Nummi 1989). The second factor is related to a significant reduction of forest-associated clutter, being a serious limitation for aerial hawking species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are almost exclusively insectivorous (Vaughan 1997) and concentrate their foraging activity in habitats of the highest prey abundance (e.g., in river valleys), where they benefit from emerging aquatic insects (Fukui et al 2006). Riparian zones and water bodies usually hold the highest diversity of bats and the highest density of foraging individuals (Rachwald 1992;Rydell et al 1994;Walsh and Harris 1996;Vaughan et al 1997a;Grindal et al 1999;Russ and Montgomery 2002;Ellison et al 2005;Menzel et al 2005a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reintroduction of beavers Castor fiber may improve habitat quality for vespertilionid bats foraging in small river valleys

et al. 2010

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Beavers strongly modify their environment by not only building dams and creating ponds, which slow the water flow, but also by selective cutting and removing of trees, which change the spatial structure of the forest. We aimed to test the hypothesis that beaver activity promotes new foraging sites for insectivorous bats. The beaver's influence can be especially significant on aerial hawkers that prefer moderate structural clutter, like the Pipistrellus species (by creating new canopy gaps), and on water-surface foragers, like Myotis daubentonii (by creating ponds with smooth water surface). The study was conducted on small streams in forest areas of northern Poland, which were colonized by the European beaver (Castor fiber). Bat activity was recorded with a Pettersson D-980 ultrasound detector on line transects. The number of bat passes was significantly higher in the stream sections modified by beavers (flooded and subjected to intensive tree cutting) than in the unmodified sections (for Pipistrellus nathusii, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus pygmaeus, Nyctalus noctula, and all species lumped together). Contrary to our expectations, the activity of the Myotis species was significantly lower on the transect with the largest beaver ponds, possibly due to the blanket of duckweed (Lemnaceae), which is known to produce clutter echoes, thereby reducing prey detection by echolocating M. daubentonii.

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The diets of British bats (Chiroptera)

Cited by 240 publications

References 51 publications

Beauty and the beast: how a bat utilizes forests shaped by outbreaks of an insect pest

Beauty and the beast: how a bat utilizes forests shaped by outbreaks of an insect pest

Habitat preferences of bats in anthropogenically altered, mosaic landscapes of northern Poland

Reintroduction of beavers Castor fiber may improve habitat quality for vespertilionid bats foraging in small river valleys

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