Foraging at Wastewater Treatment Works Increases the Potential for Metal Accumulation in an Urban Adapter, the Banana Bat (<i>Neoromicia nana</i>)

Naidoo, S.; Vosloo, Daléne; Schoeman, M. Corrie

doi:10.3377/004.048.0111

Cited by 23 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…However, a similar study on the activity of the insectivorous bat, the banana bat, Neoromicia nana, at three urban rivers systems above and downstream of where sewage effluent enters these rivers revealed that the relative abundance and feeding activity of N. nana were higher at polluted sites downstream of where sewage entered the system than at the unpolluted sites upstream (Naidoo et al 2013). In this case the bats may have been attracted by the higher abundance of dipterans over the polluted sites.…”

Section: Waste Watermentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Lisón and Calvo 2011), cattle troughs, swimming pools and settling ponds at waste water treatment facilities (Vaughan et al 1996;Abbott et al 2009;Naidoo et al 2013Naidoo et al , 2014 and mines having natural seepage Griffiths et al 2014a).…”

Section: Bodies Of Water As a Drinking Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also evidence (e.g. Aldridge and Rautenbach 1987;Jacobs 2003, 2011;Naidoo et al 2011Naidoo et al , 2013) that insects associated with freshwater habitats (e.g. Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera) occur in the diet of southern African bats.…”

Section: Bodies Of Water As a Foraging Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inorganic pollutants such as metals from agricultural and industrial run-off can also accumulate in these sites as well as in the tissues of insects using these bodies of water. Bats feedings on such insects are thus at risk of ingesting high levels of toxic metals such cadmium, chromium and nickel (see Naidoo et al 2013). …”

Section: Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is some evidence of the presence of the toxic metals cadmium, chromium and nickel in tissues of African bats foraging at sites downstream of waste water treatment plants (Naidoo et al 2013). Furthermore, bats foraging over waste water treatment facilities display increased haematocrit and DNA damage and decreased antioxidant capacity in muscle tissue compared to bats that forage over unpolluted sites.…”

Section: Waste Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bats and Water: Anthropogenic Alterations Threaten Global Bat Populations

Korine

Adams

Russo

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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Natural bodies of open water in desert landscapes, such as springs and ephemeral pools, and the plant-life they support, are important resources for the survival of animals in hyper arid, arid and semi-arid (dryland) environments. Human-made artificial water sources, i.e. waste-water treatment ponds, catchments and reservoirs, have become equally important for wildlife in those areas. Bodies of open water are used by bats either for drinking and/or as sites over which to forage for aquatic emergent insects. Due to the scarcity of available water for replenishing water losses during roosting and flight, open bodies of water of many shapes and sizes may well be a key resource influencing the survival,

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Section: Waste Watermentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Bodies Of Water As a Drinking Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Bodies Of Water As a Foraging Habitatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Waste Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Bats and Water: Anthropogenic Alterations Threaten Global Bat Populations

Korine

Adams

Russo

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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Urban bat communities are affected by wetland size, quality, and pollution levels

Straka

Lentini

Lumsden

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Wetlands support unique biota and provide important ecosystem services. These services are highly threatened due to the rate of loss and relative rarity of wetlands in most landscapes, an issue that is exacerbated in highly modified urban environments. Despite this, critical ecological knowledge is currently lacking for many wetland‐dependent taxa, such as insectivorous bats, which can persist in urban areas if their habitats are managed appropriately. Here, we use a novel paired landscape approach to investigate the role of wetlands in urban bat conservation and examine local and landscape factors driving bat species richness and activity. We acoustically monitored bat activity at 58 urban wetlands and 35 nonwetland sites (ecologically similar sites without free‐standing water) in the greater Melbourne area, southeastern Australia. We analyzed bat species richness and activity patterns using generalized linear mixed‐effects models. We found that the presence of water in urban Melbourne was an important driver of bat species richness and activity at a landscape scale. Increasing distance to bushland and increasing levels of heavy metal pollution within the waterbody also negatively influenced bat richness and individual species activity. Areas with high levels of artificial night light had reduced bat species richness, and reduced activity for all species except those adapted to urban areas, such as the White‐striped free‐tailed bat (Austronomus australis). Increased surrounding tree cover and wetland size had a positive effect on bat species richness. Our findings indicate that wetlands form critical habitats for insectivorous bats in urban environments. Large, unlit, and unpolluted wetlands flanked by high tree cover in close proximity to bushland contribute most to the richness of the bat community. Our findings clarify the role of wetlands for insectivorous bats in urban areas and will also allow for the preservation, construction, and management of wetlands that maximize conservation outcomes for urban bats and possibly other wetland‐dependent and nocturnal fauna.

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Separating the effects of water quality and urbanization on temperate insectivorous bats at the landscape scale

Kalcounis‐Rueppell

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Many local scale studies have shown that bats respond to water quality degradation or urbanization in a species‐specific manner. However, few have separated the effects of urbanization versus water quality degradation on bats, in single city or single watershed case studies. Across North Carolina, USA, we used the standardized North American Bat Monitoring Program mobile transect protocol to survey bat activity in 2015 and 2016 at 41 sites. We collected statewide water quality and urban land cover data to disentangle the effects of urbanization and water quality degradation on bats at the landscape scale. We found that statewide, water quality degradation and urbanization were not correlated. We found that bats responded to water quality degradation and urbanization independently at the landscape scale. Eptesicus fuscus and Lasiurus cinereus negatively responded to water quality degradation. Lasiurus borealis and Perimyotis subflavus positively responded to water quality degradation. Lasionycteris noctivagans did not respond to water quality degradation but was more active in more urbanized areas. Tadarida brasiliensis positively responded to urbanization and was less active in areas with degraded water quality. We show that bat–water quality relationships found at the local scale are evident at a landscape scale. We confirm that bats are useful bioindicators for both urbanization and water quality degradation. We suggest that water quality can be used to predict the presence of bat species of conservation concern, such as P. subflavus, in areas where it has not been studied locally.

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Foraging at Wastewater Treatment Works Increases the Potential for Metal Accumulation in an Urban Adapter, the Banana Bat (Neoromicia nana)

Cited by 23 publications

References 57 publications

Bats and Water: Anthropogenic Alterations Threaten Global Bat Populations

Bats and Water: Anthropogenic Alterations Threaten Global Bat Populations

Urban bat communities are affected by wetland size, quality, and pollution levels

Separating the effects of water quality and urbanization on temperate insectivorous bats at the landscape scale

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