The influence of forest management practices on seasonal bat species occurrence and activity at the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, USA

Kunberger, Jane M.; Long, Ashley M.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120579

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These dynamics present an intriguing opportunity for future community ecology studies. For example, assemblage structure is the product of both interspecific interactions (Stevens and Willig 1999) and species-specific responses to the environment (Andersen et al 2022; Kunberger and Long 2022) with relative contributions being context-dependent (Leibold and Chase 2018). One context is seasonally variable temperatures and the species-specific differences that drive responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study provides a baseline of winter bat activity in the region (see also Kunberger and Long 2022). White-nose syndrome (WNS) has caused declines of hibernating bat populations across eastern North America (Frick et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite a growing list of anecdotal records (Boyles et al 2006), winter bat activity is generally perceived as rare. At more northern latitudes, some species are intermittently active throughout winter (e.g., Schwab 2014; White et al 2014; Klüg-Baerwald et al 2016) while a growing body of literature has indicated a higher diversity of winter-active bats at southern latitudes (e.g., Grider et al 2016; Bernard and McCracken 2017; Stevens et al 2020; Jackson et al 2022; Kunberger and Long 2022) where winters are warmer and shorter.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Interspecific variation in lower temperature thresholds of an assemblage of wintering bats

Andersen,

Stevens,

Grimshaw

et al. 2023

Journal of Mammalogy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Winter presents environmental and energetic challenges for temperate insectivorous bats as colder temperatures increase metabolic rates while simultaneously reducing resource availability. While bats in northern regions typically hibernate or migrate to circumvent these adverse conditions, there is growing evidence of winter bat activity as weather permits. Bats at lower latitudes may experience shorter, milder winters, increasing opportunities for activity. To better understand the relationship between ambient temperature and winter bat activity, we deployed acoustic detectors in central Louisiana and eastern Texas and examined data at 3 levels of biological organization: overall bat activity, species richness, and species-specific activity. Across 1,576 detector-nights, we recorded 37,435 bat passes. Bats responded positively to warmer temperatures but the temperature threshold for winter activity varied among species, ranging from 7.2 to 15.6 °C. Consequently, observed species richness increased at warmer ambient temperatures. With activity linked to environmental conditions in a species-specific manner, different subsets of the winter bat assemblage may be active from night to night. Additionally, our study adds to a rather limited body of literature of winter bat activity and provides a baseline for future studies as white-nose syndrome and climate change affect North American bat populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Interspecific variation in lower temperature thresholds of an assemblage of wintering bats

Andersen,

Stevens,

Grimshaw

et al. 2023

Journal of Mammalogy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Bat winter foraging habitat use in working forests: a multispecies spatial occupancy approach

Perea,

Fandos,

Larsen‐Gray

et al. 2023

Animal Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Insectivorous bats in temperate zones have evolved strategies such as migration or hibernation to overcome challenges of reduced resource availability and increased energy demand during winter. In the southeastern United States Coastal Plain, bats are either year‐round residents and remain active during winter or are migrants from colder areas seeking milder temperatures. Southeastern Coastal Plain forests also may represent important areas for remnant populations of species impacted by white‐nose syndrome. Working pine (Pinus spp.) forests comprise a large proportion of southeastern Coastal Plain forests, yet winter bat habitat associations and how forest management affects bat use remain understudied. Hence, we used hierarchical multispecies spatial occupancy models to evaluate factors influencing winter bat occupancy and foraging habitat associations in working forests of the southeastern Coastal Plain. From January to March 2020–2022, we deployed Anabat Swift acoustic detectors and measured site‐ and landscape‐level covariates on six working landscapes. We detected five species of bats and three species groups at 93% (224/240) of sites. We observed higher species richness at sites with high proportions of contiguous forest and low levels of basal area. At the species level, occupancy patterns were influenced by site and landscape covariates, which had varying effects on species with distinct foraging strategies. Temperature was an important predictor of detectability. Our findings offer new insights into the ecology of bats in working forest landscapes during winter, where we highlight positive responses in occupancy with contiguous forests and lower levels of basal area, as in previous summer work. By providing valuable information on winter community composition and foraging habitat associations, we hope to guide management decisions for forest attributes important to these species, thus increasing conservation opportunities within working forests.

show abstract

A Comparison of Bat Calls Recorded by Two Acoustic Monitors

Kunberger

Long

2023

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent advances in low-cost automated recording unit (ARU) technology have made large-scale bat monitoring projects more practical, but several key features of ARUs (e.g., microphone quality, triggering thresholds) can influence their ability to detect and record bats. As such, it is important to quantify and report variation in ARU performance as new recording systems become available. We used the automated classification software SonoBat to compare the number of call files, number of echolocation pulses, and number of species recorded by a commonly used, full-spectrum bat detector—the Song Meter SM4BAT-FS—and a less expensive, open-source ARU that can detect ultrasound—the AudioMoth. We deployed paired ARUs across several forest types in Louisiana during breeding (June–August) and non-breeding (December–February) periods in 2020 and 2021. Weatherproof cases were unavailable for AudioMoths at the time of our study. Thus, we used disposable plastic bags and plastic boxes recommended by the manufacturer and other AudioMoth users to house our monitors. We lost several AudioMoths to water damage using both methods and subsequently placed these monitors in waterproof smartphone bags for the remainder of our study. We compared data collected by AudioMoths in the three enclosures and found no differences in the number of call files identified to species or species richness. We found that SM4BATs recorded more call files identifiable to species, call files with high-frequency bat calls, echolocation pulses, and higher species richness than AudioMoths. Our results likely reflected differences in microphone sensitivities, recording specifications, and enclosures between the ARUs. We recommend caution when comparing data collected by different ARUs, especially through time as firmware updates and new enclosures become available, and additional research to examine variation in monitor performance across a wide range of environmental conditions.

show abstract

The influence of forest management practices on seasonal bat species occurrence and activity at the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana, USA

Cited by 3 publications

References 64 publications

Interspecific variation in lower temperature thresholds of an assemblage of wintering bats

Interspecific variation in lower temperature thresholds of an assemblage of wintering bats

Bat winter foraging habitat use in working forests: a multispecies spatial occupancy approach

A Comparison of Bat Calls Recorded by Two Acoustic Monitors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About