Recurring fires in Mediterranean habitats and their impact on bats

被引:13
作者
Lopez-Baucells, Adria [1 ]
Flaquer, Carles [1 ]
Mas, Maria [1 ]
Pons, Pere [2 ]
Puig-Montserrat, Xavier [1 ]
机构
[1] Nat Sci Museum Granollers, Barcelona, Spain
[2] Univ Girona, Dept Ciencies Ambientals, Girona, Spain
关键词
Forest fragments; Landscape composition; Mediterranean bats; Pyrodiversity; Radio-tracking; Wildfires; LONG-EARED BAT; ROOST SELECTION; BARBASTELLA-BARBASTELLUS; SPECIES DISTRIBUTIONS; WILDFIRE RISK; CONSERVATION; FOREST; CHIROPTERA; RESPONSES; SEVERITY;
D O I
10.1007/s10531-020-02095-2
中图分类号
X176 [生物多样性保护];
学科分类号
090705 ;
摘要
The pyrodiversity begets biodiversity hypothesis suggests that wildfires drive habitat diversification, allowing species with different niches to coexist and increasing biodiversity. However, despite numerous wildfires studies, limited research has addressed species-specific effects of fire recurrence. We radio-tracked grey long-eared bats (Plecotus austriacus) from the largest maternity roost (a historical monastery) in an area of the Mediterranean coastal belt with one of the highest fire recurrence rates. Although shrublands cover over 80% of the surroundings and P. austriacus is known to forage in a wide range of habitats, the tracked bats barely used this habitat. They spent 92% of their flight time in scattered small Aleppo pine forest fragments, and never visited any habitat patches that burnt more than three times in the last 30 years. We also report some of the longest foraging and commuting distances (9.95 and 10.5 km) from the roost described for the species in the literature. These results showcase how P. austriacus essentially forage in small forest fragments avoiding recurrently burnt areas, and highlight the colonies' dependence on the monastery, probably due to limited alternative roost availability. This knowledge needs to be built on and accounted for in biodiversity conservation policies to ensure that species-specific responses to recurring fires in the Mediterranean are addressed.
引用
收藏
页码:385 / 402
页数:18
相关论文
共 118 条
[1]   COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS OF HABITAT USE FROM ANIMAL RADIO-TRACKING DATA [J].
AEBISCHER, NJ ;
ROBERTSON, PA ;
KENWARD, RE .
ECOLOGY, 1993, 74 (05) :1313-1325
[2]   Modeling wildfire risk to northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) habitat in Central Oregon, USA [J].
Ager, Alan A. ;
Finney, Mark A. ;
Kerns, Becky K. ;
Maffei, Helen .
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, 2007, 246 (01) :45-56
[3]   LOAD CARRYING AND MANEUVERABILITY IN AN INSECTIVOROUS BAT - A TEST OF THE 5-PERCENT RULE OF RADIO-TELEMETRY [J].
ALDRIDGE, HDJN ;
BRIGHAM, RM .
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY, 1988, 69 (02) :379-382
[4]   Resilient responses by bats to a severe wildfire: conservation implications [J].
Ancillotto, L. ;
Bosso, L. ;
Conti, P. ;
Russo, D. .
ANIMAL CONSERVATION, 2021, 24 (03) :470-481
[5]  
ANDERSON ME, 1991, ANIM BEHAV, V42, P489, DOI 10.1016/S0003-3472(05)80048-X
[6]  
[Anonymous], 2009, BATS BRITAIN EUROPE
[7]  
[Anonymous], 2002, 2 EUR COMM
[8]  
Anthony E.L.P., 1988, P47
[9]   Multiple morphological characters needed for field identification of cryptic long-eared bat species around the Swiss Alps [J].
Ashrafi, S. ;
Bontadina, F. ;
Kiefer, A. ;
Pavlinic, I. ;
Arlettaz, R. .
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, 2010, 281 (04) :241-248
[10]   Habitat selection of three cryptic Plecotus bat species in the European Alps reveals contrasting implications for conservation [J].
Ashrafi, Sohrab ;
Rutishauser, Marianne ;
Ecker, Klaus ;
Obrist, Martin K. ;
Arlettaz, Raphael ;
Bontadina, Fabio .
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION, 2013, 22 (12) :2751-2766