Effect of vegetation density on the use of trails by bats in a secondary tropical rain forest

Caras, Tamir; Korine, Carmi

doi:10.1017/s0266467408005671

Cited by 32 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The impact of clutter on bat activity along forest edges has been demonstrated experimentally (Brigham et al, 1997), and clutter has recently been found to reduce habitat use by bats (Loeb and O'Keefe, 2006). Some bat species consistently avoid regions of high structural clutter and prefer to commute and forage along more open structures as trails, gaps and edges (Walsh and Harris, 1996;Lloyd et al, 2006;Caras and Korine, 2009;Hein et al, 2009). Opening up the vegetation can thus create flight corridors for commuting bats.…”

Section: Managed Versus Unmanaged Chestnut Orchardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They efficiently do so as experimentally shown by Brigham et al (1997). Some bats avoid regions of high structural clutter by commuting and foraging along open structures as trails, gaps and edges (Lloyd et al, 2006;Caras and Korine, 2009;Hein et al, 2009). In traditionally managed chestnut orchards, the understory is reduced, thus improving the accessibility for bats with higher wing loading.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Response of bat species to sylvo-pastoral abandonment

Obrist

Rathey

Bontadina

et al. 2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tWe assessed the effect of abandonment of sylvo-pastoral practices in chestnut orchards (Castanea sativa) on bats in southern Switzerland to determine practical recommendations for bat conservation. We compared bat species richness and foraging activities between traditionally managed and unmanaged chestnut orchards, testing the hypothesis that managed orchards provide better foraging opportunities and harbour more bat species. Echolocation calls of foraging bats were sampled simultaneously at paired sites of managed and unmanaged orchards using custom made recorders. Vegetation structure and aerial insect availability were sampled at the recording sites and used as explanatory variables in the model. In a paired sampling design, we found twice the number of bat species (12) and five times higher total foraging activity in the managed chestnut orchards compared to the unmanaged ones. Bat species with low flight manoeuvrability were 14 times more common in managed orchards, whereas bats with medium to high manoeuvrability were only 5 times more common than in abandoned orchards. The vegetation structure was less dense in managed orchards. However, management did not affect relative insect abundance. Bats primarily visited the most open orchards, free of undergrowth. As a result of restricted access into the overgrown forests, the abandonment of chestnut orchards leads to a decline in bat species richness and foraging activities. Continued management of chestnut orchards to maintain an open structure is important for the conservation of endangered bat species in the southern Swiss Alps.

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Section: Managed Versus Unmanaged Chestnut Orchardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Response of bat species to sylvo-pastoral abandonment

Obrist

Rathey

Bontadina

et al. 2011

Forest Ecology and Management

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“…Nets were opened at dusk for 5 h and checked every 30 min. Bats have a stratified foraging behavior (Kalko 1999); however, to move within forests they use ''corridors'', areas without vegetation that may facilitate their movements (Caras and Korine 2009). Therefore, four 15-30 m interspaced pairs of mist nets were placed across various manmade corridors in an area of approximately 1.6 ha in each forest or plantation patch (Table 1).…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We hypothesize that Artibeus bats are common in shaded-coffee plantations because the vegetation structure allows them to fly easily. Artibeus wing morphology and body size restricts its manoeuvrability in cluttered scenarios like a disturbed forest, where space between plant individuals is reduced (Stockwell 2001;Caras and Korine 2009). In coffee plantations of the studied region they have been captured more often in mist nets hung at the sub-canopy, where an ample flightpassage is available, than at the understory level (V. J. Sosa, unpublished data).…”

Section: Factors Explaining Bat Abundance Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance responses of frugivorous bats (Stenodermatinae) to coffee cultivation and selective logging practices in mountainous central Veracruz, Mexico

et al. 2010

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Shifting and permanent cultivation, selective logging, cattle production and coffee plantations are among the most important factors in montane cloud forest conversion and disturbance. Although shaded-coffee plantations can contribute to the preservation of local species richness, abundance of organisms could be determined by habitat resource availability in agricultural landscapes. We compared abundance of Sturnira and Artibeus bats (Phyllostomidae, Stenodermatinae), in shade coffee plantations and disturbed cloud forest fragments, which represent habitats with different chiropterochorous plant density. We also investigated the relationship between bat species abundance and food plant richness, abundance and diversity. We captured 956 bats, 76% in cloud forest fragments and 24% in shaded coffee plantations. Abundance of Sturnira spp. (small bats) was greater in cloud forest than in coffee plantations, but Artibeus spp. (large bats) abundance was similar in both habitats. Chiropterochorous plant abundance was positively related with bat abundance for Sturnira spp., while chiropterochorous plant richness and diversity were negatively related for Artibeus spp. This suggests that frugivorous bats with different morphological and ecological characteristics respond differentially to anthropogenic activities. For landscape management purposes, the maintenance and augmentation of diverse food resources, for frugivorous bats with different foraging requirements in coffee plantations, will benefit the resilience of bats to modification of their natural habitat.

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“…In general, the bat fauna of a given site is composed of species that not only effectively use a specific site (e.g., for foraging or roosting), but also of species that pass by that site. Bats tend to use structurally simpler areas as flight routes since they reduce the energy costs required for movement and injury risks [25,30]. On the other hand, bats may concentrate their foraging activity in environments with higher resource availability (e.g., [31]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Habitat Structure, Plant Cover, and Successional Stage on the Bat Assemblage of a Tropical Dry Forest at Different Spatial Scales

et al. 2018

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Bats play a fundamental role in ecosystem functioning since they are responsible for several ecological services such as seed dispersal and pollination. Therefore, assessing the effects of habitat structure at different scales on the bat assemblage is extremely important for supporting conservation strategies. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of habitat structure at multiple spatial scales on the bat assemblages and their variation along a gradient of secondary succession in a Brazilian tropical dry forest. Our results suggest that bat abundance is higher in areas close to mature forests, which shows the important role of those habitats as refuges for the regional bat fauna (in a fragmented landscape) and for the maintenance of ecosystem services provided by this group in tropical dry forests in a landscape context. In addition, bat abundance was lower in protected areas whose surroundings were better preserved (greater forest extension). This unexpected finding could result from an altered behavior in areas under a strong influence of a fruit crop matrix. Finally, we showed that the effects of the surroundings depend on the successional stage of the area under analysis. Late forests are more susceptible to variations in the forest cover in their surroundings, which show the higher fragility of these environments.

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Effect of vegetation density on the use of trails by bats in a secondary tropical rain forest

Cited by 32 publications

References 20 publications

Response of bat species to sylvo-pastoral abandonment

Response of bat species to sylvo-pastoral abandonment

Abundance responses of frugivorous bats (Stenodermatinae) to coffee cultivation and selective logging practices in mountainous central Veracruz, Mexico

Effects of Habitat Structure, Plant Cover, and Successional Stage on the Bat Assemblage of a Tropical Dry Forest at Different Spatial Scales

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