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Russo-Petrick K, Root KV. Factors impacting bat activity and species richness in protected parks in the oak openings region of Northwest Ohio. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 72:1086-1098. [PMID: 37368019 DOI: 10.1007/s00267-023-01849-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Protected areas are important for wildlife, especially in heavily developed areas. Bats are one group utilizing protected areas, but it is unclear what makes an ideal place for bats to live in parks, especially since preferences vary between open and forest foraging species and at different scales. The main objective of this study was to determine the landscape and vegetation factors at multiple scales most associated with higher bat activity and species richness in protected parks. Total bat activity, species richness, and activity for open and forested foraging species were compared to small-scale data vegetation structure collected in the field and larger-scale landscape data calculated in ArcGIS and FRAGSTATS. Bat activity and species richness increased with higher percentages of dry and open land cover types such as sand barrens, savanna, cropland, and upland prairie and decreased with higher percentages of forest and wet prairies. Patch richness, understory height, and clutter at the 3-6.5 m level were negatively associated with total bat activity. The most important variables for bats differed depending on spatial scale measured and if species were open or forest adapted. When managing for bats in parks, it would be advantageous to restore open land cover types such as savanna and mid-level clutter, and excessive fragmentation. Whether species are open or forest adapted and scale-specific differences should also be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly Russo-Petrick
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, USA.
| | - Karen V Root
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 43403, USA
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Rojas VG, Loeb SC, O'Keefe JM. Applying mobile acoustic surveys to model bat habitat use across sinuous routes. WILDLIFE SOC B 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa G. Rojas
- Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation Indiana State University 600 Chestnut Street Terre Haute IN 47809 USA
| | - Susan C. Loeb
- United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Southern Research Station, 233 Lehotsky Hall, Clemson University Clemson SC 29634 USA
| | - Joy M. O'Keefe
- Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation Indiana State University 600 Chestnut Street Terre Haute IN 47809 USA
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Four Years Continuous Monitoring Reveals Different Effects of Urban Constructed Wetlands on Bats. LAND 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/land10101087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Proactive artificial wetland constructions have been implemented to mitigate the loss of wetlands and their ecosystem services. As wetlands are habitats for bats, short-term (one or two years) studies find that constructed wetlands can immediately increase local bat activity and diversity. However, it is not clear how constructed wetlands affect bats through time while the wetlands are aging. We collected four years of continuous bat acoustic monitoring data at two constructed wetlands in an urban park in Greensboro, NC, USA. We examined bat activity and community composition patterns at these wetlands and compared them with reference sites in the city. With four years of data, we found that the effects of constructed wetlands were both habitat- and species-specific. The wetland in forests significantly increased bat activity, while the wetland in the open grass altered bat community composition. Specifically, in terms of species, we found that over time, constructed wetlands no longer attracted more big brown, silver-haired, or evening bats than control sites while the wetlands aged, highlighting the need to study broadly how each bat species uses natural and artificial wetlands. We emphasize the importance of long-term monitoring and the periodical evaluation of wildlife conservation actions.
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Effects of Environmental Clutter on Synthesized Chiropteran Echolocation Signals in an Anechoic Chamber. ACOUSTICS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/acoustics3020026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Ultrasonic bat detectors are useful for research and monitoring purposes to assess occupancy and relative activity of bat communities. Environmental “clutter” such as tree boles and foliage can affect the recording quality and identification of bat echolocation calls collected using ultrasonic detectors. It can also affect the transmission of calls and recognition by bats when using acoustic lure devices to attract bats to mist-nets. Bat detectors are often placed in forests, yet automatic identification programs are trained on call libraries using echolocation passes recorded largely from open spaces. Research indicates that using clutter-recorded calls can increase classification accuracy for some bat species and decrease accuracy for others, but a detailed understanding of how clutter impacts the recording and identification of echolocation calls remains elusive. To clarify this, we experimentally investigated how two measures of clutter (i.e., total basal area and number of stems of simulated woody growth, as well as recording angle) affected the recording and classification of a synthesized echolocation signal under controlled conditions in an anechoic chamber. Recording angle (i.e., receiver position relative to emitter) significantly influenced the probability of correct classification and differed significantly for many of the call parameters measured. The probability of recording echo pulses was also a function of clutter but only for the detector angle at 0° from the emitter that could receive deflected pulses. Overall, the two clutter metrics were overshadowed by proximity and angle of the receiver to the sound source but some deviations from the synthesized call in terms of maximum, minimum, and mean frequency parameters were observed. Results from our work may aid efforts to better understand underlying environmental conditions that produce false-positive and -negative identifications for bat species of interest and how this could be used to adjust survey accuracy estimates. Our results also help pave the way for future research into the development of acoustic lure technology by exploring the effects of environmental clutter on ultrasound transmission.
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Hyzy BA, Russell RE, Silvis A, Ford WM, Riddle J, Russell K. Occupancy and Detectability of Northern Long‐eared Bats in the Lake States Region. WILDLIFE SOC B 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Brenna A. Hyzy
- College of Natural Resources University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Stevens Point WI 54481 USA
| | - Robin E. Russell
- U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center Madison WI 53705 USA
| | - Alex Silvis
- West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Elkins WV 26241 USA
| | - W. Mark Ford
- U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Blacksburg VA 24061 USA
| | - Jason Riddle
- College of Natural Resources University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Stevens Point WI 54481 USA
| | - Kevin Russell
- College of Natural Resources University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Stevens Point WI 54481 USA
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Li H, Crihfield C, Feng Y, Gaje G, Guzman E, Heckman T, Mellis A, Moore L, Romo Bechara N, Sanchez S, Whittington S, Wolf JG, Garshong R, Morales K, Petric R, Zarecky LA, Schug MD. The Weekend Effect on Urban Bat Activity Suggests Fine Scale Human-Induced Bat Movements. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10091636. [PMID: 32932924 PMCID: PMC7552248 DOI: 10.3390/ani10091636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Revised: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary On weekends, people do things differently from weekdays, such as dining at a restaurant, going to a night club, attending a concert or a sporting event, or simply staying up late. These leisure activities in the city can change the environment people live in and can hurt wildlife that also lives in the same city. We recorded bats in the city center and in the city periphery and compared how active bats were. We found that in the city center, bats were less active on weekends than weekdays. The opposite pattern was found in the city periphery. It is possible that bats moved from the city center to the city periphery on weekends. Thus, continuous greenways are important to facilitate bat movements and avoid human–wildlife conflict. City planners can add new parks and/or preserve old-growth vegetation to form the center-to-periphery greenways. Abstract In the urban environment, wildlife faces novel human disturbances in unique temporal patterns. The weekend effect describes that human activities on weekends trigger changes in the environment and impact wildlife negatively. Reduced occurrence, altered behaviors, and/or reduced fitness have been found in birds, ungulates, and meso-carnivores due to the weekend effect. We aimed to investigate if urban bat activity would differ on weekends from weekdays. We analyzed year-round bat acoustic monitoring data collected from two sites near the city center and two sites in the residential area/park complex in the city periphery. We constructed generalized linear models and found that bat activity was significantly lower on weekends as compared to weekdays during spring and summer at the site in the open space near the city center. In contrast, during the same seasons, the sites in the city periphery showed increased bat activity on weekends. Hourly bat activity overnight suggested that bats might move from the city center to the periphery on weekends. We demonstrated the behavioral adaptability in urban wildlife for co-existing with human. We recommend that urban planning should implement practices such as adding new greenspaces and/or preserving old-growth vegetation to form continuous greenways from the city center to the city periphery as corridors to facilitate bat movements and reduce possible human-wildlife conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Li
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +01-254-733-2891
| | - Chase Crihfield
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Yashi Feng
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Gabriella Gaje
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Elissa Guzman
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Talia Heckman
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Anna Mellis
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Lauren Moore
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Nayma Romo Bechara
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Sydney Sanchez
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Samantha Whittington
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Joseph Gazing Wolf
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA
| | - Reuben Garshong
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Kristina Morales
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | - Radmila Petric
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
| | | | - Malcolm D. Schug
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA; (C.C.); (Y.F.); (G.G.); (E.G.); (T.H.); (A.M.); (L.M.); (N.R.B.); (S.S.); (S.W.); (J.G.W.); (R.G.); (K.M.); (R.P.); (M.D.S.)
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