Publication details
Importance of forest fragments in agricultural landscape to bats
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The differences in utilization of 21 isolated forest fragments of three size categories, i. e. small (1; 0-100 ha), medium (2; 100-1000 ha) and large (3; 1000 ha), by bats were assessed to determine the impact of forest fragmentation on bat populations in the S Moravian agricultural landscape. To analyse the flight activity and species diversity of bat assamblage inside forest fragments, point counting and linetransect methods of bat-detecting were used. The impact of the distance from the nearest waterside and human settlement was assessed as well. Significantly higher activity of bats was found in small fragments compared to medium and large fragments. Flight activity of the whole bat assamblage negatively correlated only with the distance to a water body and no correlation with the area of forest fragments and the distance to human settlements was found. The number of species was positively correlated with the area of the forest. Higher number of bat species was found in large fragments in comparison with lumped small and medium fragments. Likewise Shannons index (H) was higher in large fragments. In total, 15 bat species or pairs of sibling species were identified. P. pipistrellus was the most abundant, followed by M. myotis and M. mystacinus/brandtii. All three species were also eudominant in study area and found in the most fragments. Recorded species were divided into four ecological groups with respect to their foraging strategies and habitat use, i.e. forest bats (1), open air bats (2), hemi-synanthropic bats (3), and bats associated with waterside (4). The highest relative activity inside forest fragments was recorded among bats ranked to the forest bats represented by B. barbastellus, Plecotus spp., M. mystacinus/brandtii, M. emarginatus/alcathoe, M. myotis and M. bechsteinii. The study was supported by the Long-term Research Project No. MSM 0021622416. |
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