Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species
It is generally recognized that roads can adversely affect local animal populations but little is known how roads Effect bats. In particular, no study compared the response of bats that differ in foraging ecology to motorways that cut through the breeding habitat. As bats are key species in conserva...
Published in: | Biological Conservation |
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ftunivlausanne:oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_8EE5B7892059 2024-02-11T10:02:24+01:00 Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species Kerth, G. Melber, M. 2009 https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_8EE5B7892059 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0006-3207 https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_8EE5B7892059 doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 Biological Conservation, vol. 142, no. 2, pp. 270-279 Barbastella barbastellus Foraging area Habitat fragmentation Myotis bechsteinii Radio-telemetry Roost switching info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2009 ftunivlausanne https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 2024-01-22T01:04:03Z It is generally recognized that roads can adversely affect local animal populations but little is known how roads Effect bats. In particular, no study compared the response of bats that differ in foraging ecology to motorways that cut through the breeding habitat. As bats are key species in conservation, such data are urgently needed for designing management plans. Using radio-telemetry, mist netting, and mark-recapture data we investigated the effects of a motorway with heavy traffic on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bats. We compared barbastelle bats (Barbastella barbastellus), which forage in open space, to Bechstein's bats (Myods bechsteinii), which glean prey from the vegetation. Five of six radiotracked barbastelle bats crossed the motorway during foraging and roost switching, flying through underpasses and directly over the motorway. In contrast, only three of 34 radiotracked Bechstein's bats crossed the motorway during foraging, all three using an underpass. Bechstein's bats, unlike barbastelle bats, never crossed the motorway during roost switching. Moreover, only in Bechstein's bats individuals foraging close to the motorway had smaller foraging areas than individuals foraging further away, whereas other forest edges had no such effect. Our data show that motorways can restrict habitat accessibility for bats but the effect seems to depend on the species' foraging ecology and wing morphology. We suggest that motorways have stronger barrier effects on bats that forage close to surfaces than on bats that forage in open space, and discuss the implications of our findings for bat conservation during road construction Article in Journal/Newspaper Barbastella barbastellus Université de Lausanne (UNIL): Serval - Serveur académique lausannois Biological Conservation 142 2 270 279 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Lausanne (UNIL): Serval - Serveur académique lausannois |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlausanne |
language |
English |
topic |
Barbastella barbastellus Foraging area Habitat fragmentation Myotis bechsteinii Radio-telemetry Roost switching |
spellingShingle |
Barbastella barbastellus Foraging area Habitat fragmentation Myotis bechsteinii Radio-telemetry Roost switching Kerth, G. Melber, M. Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
topic_facet |
Barbastella barbastellus Foraging area Habitat fragmentation Myotis bechsteinii Radio-telemetry Roost switching |
description |
It is generally recognized that roads can adversely affect local animal populations but little is known how roads Effect bats. In particular, no study compared the response of bats that differ in foraging ecology to motorways that cut through the breeding habitat. As bats are key species in conservation, such data are urgently needed for designing management plans. Using radio-telemetry, mist netting, and mark-recapture data we investigated the effects of a motorway with heavy traffic on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bats. We compared barbastelle bats (Barbastella barbastellus), which forage in open space, to Bechstein's bats (Myods bechsteinii), which glean prey from the vegetation. Five of six radiotracked barbastelle bats crossed the motorway during foraging and roost switching, flying through underpasses and directly over the motorway. In contrast, only three of 34 radiotracked Bechstein's bats crossed the motorway during foraging, all three using an underpass. Bechstein's bats, unlike barbastelle bats, never crossed the motorway during roost switching. Moreover, only in Bechstein's bats individuals foraging close to the motorway had smaller foraging areas than individuals foraging further away, whereas other forest edges had no such effect. Our data show that motorways can restrict habitat accessibility for bats but the effect seems to depend on the species' foraging ecology and wing morphology. We suggest that motorways have stronger barrier effects on bats that forage close to surfaces than on bats that forage in open space, and discuss the implications of our findings for bat conservation during road construction |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kerth, G. Melber, M. |
author_facet |
Kerth, G. Melber, M. |
author_sort |
Kerth, G. |
title |
Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
title_short |
Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
title_full |
Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
title_fullStr |
Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
title_sort |
species-specific barrier effects of a motorway on the habitat use of two threatened forest-living bat species |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_8EE5B7892059 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 |
genre |
Barbastella barbastellus |
genre_facet |
Barbastella barbastellus |
op_source |
Biological Conservation, vol. 142, no. 2, pp. 270-279 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/0006-3207 https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_8EE5B7892059 doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.022 |
container_title |
Biological Conservation |
container_volume |
142 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
270 |
op_container_end_page |
279 |
_version_ |
1790598344036319232 |