Nietoperze jako wskaźniki stanu środowiska leśnego : Bats as indicators of the condition of the forest environment

• Main Author: Rachwald, Aleksander
• Format: Text
• Language: Polish
• Published: Polskie Towarzystwo Leśne 2019
• Subjects: bats; indicators; forest management; biodiversity; air pollutions; Barbastella barbastellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.26202/sylwan.2018131; https://sylwan.lasy.gov.pl/apex/f?p=sylwan:10:::NO::P10_NAZWA_PLIKU,P10_ARTYKUL,P10_ZESZYT_NEW:15901122478745274/2019_03_228au.pdf,2018131,2019_3

The article overviews the role of bats in the forest ecosystem (especially the European forest), the impact of environmental pollution on the forest and bats, and the issue of bats indication of the forest environment condition. Existing data on the transfer of pollutants to the environment and between the aquatic and terrestrial environment are reviewed. The water environment is an important receiver of industrial pollution, which then transfer to the terrestrial environment i.a. through insect larvae. Bats as predators hunting for the insects, which undergo part of their life cycle in water (including Diptera: Chironomidae), play an important in this cycle. Another source of bats intoxication are terrestrial insects feeding on plants that transfer toxins that settle on the leaves surface further in the food chain. Bats as predators of the first or even second level store in such a case substances like heavy metals in their bodies. Air pollutants also have a direct impact on forest stands, causing (in zones of strong industrial pollution) the inhibition of tree growth. The result is, among other things, a smaller number of hollows, which in turn is manifested indirectly through weaker settlement by bats (and birds) of these stands. Bats communities inhabiting the forest depend on such factors as the availability of roosting places, the age structure and spatial structure of the stands. All these features (as well as others related to them) are subject to modification through economic forestry, which causes changes in the bat communities. Ecological research of forest bats shows variability of settling of managed stands, as well as diversified species composition, especially smaller presence of typically forest bats connected ecologically with forests (e.g. western barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus or lesser noctule Nyctalus leisleri ), in favor of bats preferring open spaces and built−up areas (serotine bat Eptesicus serotinus ). This is probably the result of changes in the age and spatial structure of the stand. On the basis of the collected information, it was concluded that bats are a valuable indicator of the condition of the forest environment. : Sylwan 163 (3): 228-236