Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

About: The article was published on 2016-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 386 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Animal ecology & Anthropocene.

Figures

Table 6.3 (continued)

Fig. 9.2 A hibernating little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) with typical WNS infection visible on skin tissues. Photo by Ryan von Linden

Fig. 15.10 Sale of decorative cave speleothems near the Vietnam-China border (© Neil Furey/ Fauna & Flora International)

Fig. 12.5 Members of the women’s peanut cooperative in Madagascar, which grows peanuts to supplement local protein supplies and uses a portion of the proceeds to pay rangers to protect fruit bat roosts (Razafimanahaka 2013)

Table 12.2 Comparison of the conservation status of old world fruit bat species across two decades from two sets of species accounts: 1992 IUCN Action Plan (Mickleburgh et al. 1992); 2014 IUCN Red List; and for comparison, the 2009 Bats as Bushmeat review (Mickleburgh et al. 2009)

Fig. 13.4 Net bags enclosing lychee panicles in Mauritius (Photograph Vikash Tatayah, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation)

Full text

ChristianC.Voigt· TiggaKingston
Editors
Bats in the
Anthropocene:
Conservation
of Bats in a
Changing World

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation
of Bats in a Changing World

Christian C. Voigt · Tigga Kingston
Editors
Bats in the Anthropocene:
Conservation of Bats
in a Changing World

Editors
Christian C. Voigt
Berlin
Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-25218-6 ISBN 978-3-319-25220-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-25220-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950865
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016. The book is published with open access at
SpringerLink.com.
Open Access This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
All commercial rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material
is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media
(www.springer.com)
Tigga Kingston
Lubbock, TX
USA

For Thomas H. Kunz and Otto von Helversen
for sharing with us their passion for bats.
For Silke, Philippa and Florian (CCV) and
for Danny (TK) for their inspiration and
patience.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What is the scale at which bats perceive their environment in fragmented landscapes?

The scale at which bat species perceive their environment in fragmented landscapes is likely influenced by spatiotemporal variation in the distribution of resources, as well as by species-specific differences in ecological traits such as diet, wing morphology, and movement behavior. 

Q2. What other species avoided roads when they became dense around settlements?

Other species, particularly woodland specialists, such as Myotis and Plecotus species, avoided roads and all species avoided roads when they became dense around settlements. 

Q3. What is the key theme emerging from the recent logging effect literature?

A key theme emerging from the recent logging effect literature is the potential confounding issue of spatial pseudoreplication in study design, a problem whereby study sites in continuous forest stands are inappropriately treated as independent replicates (Ramage et al. 2013). 

Q4. What determines how bats fly and use the landscape?

Body size, wing form, echolocation call structure and feeding and roosting ecology all determine how bats fly and use the landscape. 

Q5. What are some other types of mitigation that are relevant to bats?

Some general forms of mitigation not specifically related to roads are also relevant, such as the planting of trees and the creation of ponds to replace lost habitat or enhance existing habitat as compensation for damage done by roads. 

Q6. What can be done to reduce the use of underpasses?

Use could be maximised by restricting lighting in and around these underpasses, placing them on tree and hedge lines, and making smaller wildlife underpasses or drainage culverts larger to accommodate woodland-adapted bat species. 

Q7. What are the main reasons for the reluctance to adopt hop-overs?

Safety concerns arising from overhanging branches may have led to reluctance to adopt hop-overs and even to remove trees from road margins. 

Q8. What are the main threats to bat species identified by IUCN assessments?

the major threats to bat species identified by IUCN assessments are land use change (logging, non-timber crops, livestock farming and ranching, wood and pulp plantations, and fire), urbanization, hunting and persecution, quarrying and general human intrusions on bat habitats (Fig. 1.3). 

Q9. What species of bats are known to tolerate and potentially profit from urbanised areas?

Of these, it is typically members of the Molossidae, which are known to forage in the open spaces above the tree canopy that seem to tolerate and potentially profit from highly urbanised areas (AvilaFlores and Fenton 2005; Pacheco et al. 2010; Jung and Kalko 2011). 

Q10. What is the way to encourage bats to cross a road?

‘Hop-overs’ (Limpens et al. 2005) have been put forward as a relatively low cost and unobtrusive way to encourage bats to cross roads at safe heights. 

Q11. What is the effect of road construction on bats?

As a result, road construction leads to the permanent loss of habitats for bats and thus is likely to reduce population sizes directly. 

Q12. How did the authors estimate that preserving the genetic diversity of this species would require extensive areas?

Based on the genetic-area relationship observed for K. papillosa, the authors estimated that preserving the genetic diversity of this species at levels similar to those of intact forest would require extensive areas (>10,000 ha), several times larger than necessary to maintain comparable levels of species richness. 

Q13. What is the effect of seasonal differences in time and energy budgets on bats’ foraging?

Together with seasonal differences in time and energy budgets linked to reproduction, these will affect species’ foraging and movement behavior, and could lead to seasonal shifts in diet composition (Durant et al. 2013; Cisneros et al. 2015).