Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey
Agricultural expansion has led to the widespread destruction of habitats and the creation of fragmented landscapes. Woodland has been severely affected by habitat loss; remaining woodland is often highly fragmented and degraded, immersed in an agricultural matrix. Woodland is one of the most importa...
Published in: | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16874 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/16874/1/Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf |
id |
ftunivstirling:oai:dspace.stir.ac.uk:1893/16874 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Stirling: Stirling Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivstirling |
language |
English |
topic |
Agri-environment schemes Bat conservation Chiroptera Habitat fragmentation Landscape Nocturnal insects Vespertilionidae Woodland management |
spellingShingle |
Agri-environment schemes Bat conservation Chiroptera Habitat fragmentation Landscape Nocturnal insects Vespertilionidae Woodland management Fuentes-Montemayor, Elisa Goulson, Dave Cavin, Liam Wallace, Jenny M Park, Kirsty Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
topic_facet |
Agri-environment schemes Bat conservation Chiroptera Habitat fragmentation Landscape Nocturnal insects Vespertilionidae Woodland management |
description |
Agricultural expansion has led to the widespread destruction of habitats and the creation of fragmented landscapes. Woodland has been severely affected by habitat loss; remaining woodland is often highly fragmented and degraded, immersed in an agricultural matrix. Woodland is one of the most important habitats for bats because it offers roosting and feeding opportunities for many species. A number of agri-environment schemes aim to increase the amount and quality of woodland on agricultural land; however, little is known about how woodland character relates to bat abundance/activity and recommendations for woodland creation and management for foraging bats are scarce. We studied temperate bat communities and examined bat foraging activity and relative abundance (and insect prey availability) in 34 woodland fragments in agricultural landscapes using two complementary methods (acoustic monitoring and trapping assisted by an acoustic lure). We evaluated the relative importance of woodland vegetation character, patch configuration and surrounding landscape in order to assess the importance of local- vs. landscape-scale woodland management to bat populations. Bat abundance and activity were influenced by both local and landscape-level attributes. At the local scale, woodland vegetation character appeared more important than patch configuration. High activity levels of aerial hawkers (e.g. Pipistrellus species) were related to low tree densities and an open understory, while gleaning species (e.g. Myotis bats) showed the opposite trend. Areas of cluttered vegetation were associated with high insect (mostly Diptera) abundance and could act as sources of prey for certain bat species. Bats' responses to the surrounding landscape depended on species mobility. For relatively low mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pygmaeus), local woodland character was more important than the landscape context, whereas the opposite was observed for higher mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Myotis bats). Higher bat ... |
author2 |
Biological and Environmental Sciences Jenny Wallace Ecology orcid:0000-0002-5550-9432 orcid:0000-0001-6080-7197 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fuentes-Montemayor, Elisa Goulson, Dave Cavin, Liam Wallace, Jenny M Park, Kirsty |
author_facet |
Fuentes-Montemayor, Elisa Goulson, Dave Cavin, Liam Wallace, Jenny M Park, Kirsty |
author_sort |
Fuentes-Montemayor, Elisa |
title |
Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
title_short |
Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
title_full |
Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
title_fullStr |
Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
title_sort |
fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: the influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16874 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/16874/1/Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf |
genre |
Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
genre_facet |
Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
op_relation |
Fuentes-Montemayor E, Goulson D, Cavin L, Wallace JM & Park K (2013) Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 172, pp. 6-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16874 doi:10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 WOS:000321480400002 2-s2.0-84877800160 702277 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/16874/1/Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf |
op_rights |
The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study. http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved 2999-12-31 [Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf] The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository therefore there is an embargo on the full text of the work. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 |
container_title |
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment |
container_volume |
172 |
container_start_page |
6 |
op_container_end_page |
15 |
_version_ |
1766168841045409792 |
spelling |
ftunivstirling:oai:dspace.stir.ac.uk:1893/16874 2023-05-15T17:59:57+02:00 Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey Fuentes-Montemayor, Elisa Goulson, Dave Cavin, Liam Wallace, Jenny M Park, Kirsty Biological and Environmental Sciences Jenny Wallace Ecology orcid:0000-0002-5550-9432 orcid:0000-0001-6080-7197 2013-06 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16874 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/16874/1/Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf en eng Elsevier Fuentes-Montemayor E, Goulson D, Cavin L, Wallace JM & Park K (2013) Fragmented woodlands in agricultural landscapes: The influence of woodland character and landscape context on bats and their insect prey. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 172, pp. 6-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 http://hdl.handle.net/1893/16874 doi:10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 WOS:000321480400002 2-s2.0-84877800160 702277 http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/16874/1/Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository. Please use the Request a Copy feature at the foot of the Repository record to request a copy directly from the author. You can only request a copy if you wish to use this work for your own research or private study. http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/under-embargo-all-rights-reserved 2999-12-31 [Fuentes-Montemayor-et-al-2013.pdf] The publisher does not allow this work to be made publicly available in this Repository therefore there is an embargo on the full text of the work. Agri-environment schemes Bat conservation Chiroptera Habitat fragmentation Landscape Nocturnal insects Vespertilionidae Woodland management Journal Article VoR - Version of Record 2013 ftunivstirling https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.03.019 2022-06-13T18:42:16Z Agricultural expansion has led to the widespread destruction of habitats and the creation of fragmented landscapes. Woodland has been severely affected by habitat loss; remaining woodland is often highly fragmented and degraded, immersed in an agricultural matrix. Woodland is one of the most important habitats for bats because it offers roosting and feeding opportunities for many species. A number of agri-environment schemes aim to increase the amount and quality of woodland on agricultural land; however, little is known about how woodland character relates to bat abundance/activity and recommendations for woodland creation and management for foraging bats are scarce. We studied temperate bat communities and examined bat foraging activity and relative abundance (and insect prey availability) in 34 woodland fragments in agricultural landscapes using two complementary methods (acoustic monitoring and trapping assisted by an acoustic lure). We evaluated the relative importance of woodland vegetation character, patch configuration and surrounding landscape in order to assess the importance of local- vs. landscape-scale woodland management to bat populations. Bat abundance and activity were influenced by both local and landscape-level attributes. At the local scale, woodland vegetation character appeared more important than patch configuration. High activity levels of aerial hawkers (e.g. Pipistrellus species) were related to low tree densities and an open understory, while gleaning species (e.g. Myotis bats) showed the opposite trend. Areas of cluttered vegetation were associated with high insect (mostly Diptera) abundance and could act as sources of prey for certain bat species. Bats' responses to the surrounding landscape depended on species mobility. For relatively low mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pygmaeus), local woodland character was more important than the landscape context, whereas the opposite was observed for higher mobility species (e.g. Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Myotis bats). Higher bat ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Pipistrellus pipistrellus University of Stirling: Stirling Digital Research Repository Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 172 6 15 |