Thinking outside the box: A review of artificial roosts for bats

Mering, Elisabeth D.; Chambers, Christopher P.

doi:10.1002/wsb.461

Cited by 55 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For example, adding coarse woody debris, even as fence post piles, has been shown to increase local abundance and richness of reptiles and invertebrates (Barton et al ; Shoo et al ). Artificial peeling bark has also been successfully used to encourage roosting by insectivorous bats (Brandenburg ; Mering & Chambers ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enriching small trees with artificial nest boxes cannot mimic the value of large trees for hollow‐nesting birds

Roux

Ikin

Lindenmayer

et al. 2015

Restoration Ecology

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Large trees support unique habitat structures (e.g. hollows) that form over centuries and cannot be provided by small trees. Large trees are also declining in human-modified landscapes worldwide. One restoration strategy gaining popularity involves adding nest boxes to smaller trees to replicate natural hollows. However, limited empirical research has tested how hollow-nesting fauna responds to the presence of nest boxes. We asked: can the addition of nest boxes increase tree visitation by hollow-nesting birds? We conducted a before-after control-impact (BACI) experiment using 144 nest boxes and 96 sample trees comprised of three sizes (small [20-50 cm dbh], medium [51-80 cm], and large [>80 cm]) and located in four landscape contexts (reserves, pasture, urban parklands, and urban built-up areas). We recorded a significant increase in hollow-nesting bird abundance and richness at large trees after nest box additions. However, the same response was not observed at medium, small, or control trees. We also recorded nonsignificant increases in hollow-nesting bird abundance and richness at trees in modified landscapes after nest box additions compared to trees in reserves and control trees. Our results suggest that adding nest boxes to smaller-sized trees may not attract hollow-nesting birds. Therefore, nest box management strategies may require re-evaluation as it is often assumed that hollow supplementation will attract hollow-using fauna and sufficiently ameliorate the loss of large, hollow-bearing trees. We advocate that large tree retention remains crucial and should be prioritized. Large trees could be effective target structures for habitat restoration, especially in modified landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enriching small trees with artificial nest boxes cannot mimic the value of large trees for hollow‐nesting birds

Roux

Ikin

Lindenmayer

et al. 2015

Restoration Ecology

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“…At least 16 the 45 species of bats in Canada and the United States roost in cavities or under bark (Barclay and Kurta ). If bat roosts could be located in an area prior to forest management activities (e.g., thinning or prescribed burning) or land use changes (e.g., housing developments or ski area expansions), managers could either protect existing roosts or provide surrogate roosts as part of the mitigation strategy for the planned activity (Mering and Chambers ). Although dogs are not able to precisely locate all snag roosts, we found they are generally within 30 m of the roost site, thereby providing a targeted area for more concentrated searches or immediate protection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of scent-detection dogs for locating bat roosts in trees and snags

et al. 2015

Self Cite

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Conservation efforts for tree-and snag-roosting bats are challenging because roost sites are difficult and costly to locate. We assessed the ability of scent detection dogs to locate bat roosts using controlled field experiments conducted at 2 sites in northern Arizona, USA, during July and August of 2007, with small bags of bat guano and known bat roosts. Scent detection dogs correctly detected 79% of guano bags and 29% of known bat roosts; but, when searching during shorter time periods for roosts only, dogs correctly detected 77% of known roosts. Factors affecting detection of guano bags included bag height and mass. Factors affecting detection of roosts included height, size of the bat colony, and air temperature. Rest breaks and competition between dogs apparently increased their success rate in finding roosts. Using a scent detection dog to locate roosts was similar in cost to radiotelemetry; however, the use of a scent detection dog was less invasive because the use of dogs precluded the need to capture and radiotag bats. Important considerations influencing the efficacy of using scent detection dogs include training and transportation costs, and skill level of dog handlers. Although some factors limit the ability of scent detection dogs to accurately locate roosts, dogs in our study approximated the roost location to within a 30-m radius, which may be sufficient to protect these areas during management activities. If managers have the ability within an area to retain all large-diameter snags that have bat roost characteristics, then scent detection dogs will likely not provide adequate added value to warrant their survey costs. However, scent dogs could be important for locating roosts of species that are imperiled or of conservation concern. Ó 2015 The Wildlife Society.

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“…Nevertheless, in the absence of natural habitats, most of the urban bats seem to be dependent on man-made roosts to survive. Artificial roosts ("bat houses", "bat boxes") in urban areas can be used as a mitigation program to enhance roost availability (Mering and Chambers, 2014;Rueegger, 2016), as have been applied in Hong Kong (Chan, 2006;Shek et al, 2012). Additionally, monitoring programs should be coupled to assess bat-boxes effectiveness (Rueegger, 2016).…”

Section: Conservation-driven Studies Gapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research trends on bats in China: A twenty-first century review

et al. 2019

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a b s t r a c tIn this century, China has sustained unparalleled economic development, leading to exponentially growing investments in scientific research. Yet, the demand for research-funding is large and tracing the current knowledge is a key step to define priority research topics. In this same span, studies on bats in China have uncovered an overlooked diversity and revealed novelties in bats' evolutionary history and life-history aspects. All this 21st-century knowledge, however, is scattered and a large part is concealed from most of the international scientific community in Mandarin-language articles. Here, we summarize the post-millennium (2000-2017) research on bats in China and point out trends and future directions based on neglected topics, groups, and regions. In addition, we provide an up-to-date list of bat species in China. We retrieved 594 publications related to bats in China, nearly half were written in Mandarin. At least 147 bat species are present in China, which places it among the most bat-rich countries in the world. There was a significant positive trend on the number of publications, from 12.5 annual average in 2000-2005 to 46.5 in recent years, reflecting the Chinese economic-scientific development in this century. We found marked taxonomic and spatial biases. Half of the studies in this century focused on Rhinolophus, Myotis, and Hipposideros, and the southern and eastern provinces were the most studied. Systematic/taxonomy and Ecology were the predominant topics post-millennium, whereas only 10 articles have clear conservation-driven goals. Our review shows that the majority of studies were focused on the least concern, cave-dweller species, and on bat-rich provinces. Future projects should address the effects of human-modified landscapes on bat community to define proper conservation actions. We discuss some priority actions and projects that will help to enhance bat protection in China.

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Thinking outside the box: A review of artificial roosts for bats

Cited by 55 publications

References 37 publications

Enriching small trees with artificial nest boxes cannot mimic the value of large trees for hollow‐nesting birds

Enriching small trees with artificial nest boxes cannot mimic the value of large trees for hollow‐nesting birds

Efficacy of scent-detection dogs for locating bat roosts in trees and snags

Research trends on bats in China: A twenty-first century review

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