Clutter‐adaptation of bat species predicts their use of under‐motorway passageways of contrasting sizes – a natural experiment ...

• Main Authors: Abbott, I. M., Harrison, S., Butler, F., Bennett, Nigel
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2012
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Myotis nattereri
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13478560; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13478560

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Bat populations may be vulnerable to the barrier impacts of roads, including habitat restriction and traffic mortality. Under-road passageways may reduce these impacts, but little is known about the ecological factors influencing their use by bats. The study area provided a natural experimental design, in that adjacent under-motorway passageways had contrasting dimensions (two long, narrow drainage pipes within <1 km of a large underpass for a minor road), and local bat species had contrasting functional and morphological adaptations. We predicted that inter-species differences in flight capability and sensory perception would influence bat use of passageways. All-night acoustic recordings of bat activity inside passageways (52 nights) indicated clear guild-specific responses to passageway dimensions. Only Rhinolophus hipposideros, Myotis nattereri and Plecotus auritus flew through the narrow drainage pipes. These species are adapted for flight and ...