Authors
Annie Frey‐Ehrenbold, Fabio Bontadina, Raphaël Arlettaz, Martin K Obrist
Publication date
2013/2
Journal
Journal of Applied Ecology
Volume
50
Issue
1
Pages
252-261
Description
- Agricultural intensification has caused a decline in structural elements in European farmland, where natural habitats are increasingly fragmented. The loss of habitat structures has a detrimental effect on biodiversity and affects bat species that depend on vegetation structures for foraging and commuting.
- We investigated the impact of connectivity and configuration of structural landscape elements on flight activity, species richness and diversity of insectivorous bats and distinguished three bat guilds according to species‐specific bioacoustic characteristics. We tested whether bats with shorter‐range echolocation were more sensitive to habitat fragmentation than bats with longer‐range echolocation. We expected to find different connectivity thresholds for the three guilds and hypothesized that bats prefer linear over patchy landscape elements.
- Bat activity was quantified using repeated acoustic monitoring in 225 …
Scholar articles
A Frey‐Ehrenbold, F Bontadina, R Arlettaz, MK Obrist - Journal of Applied Ecology, 2013