TY - JOUR

T1 - Bats in a Farming Landscape Benefit from Linear Remnants and Unimproved Pastures

AU - Lentini, Pia E.

AU - Gibbons, Philip

AU - Fischer, Jörn

AU - Law, Bradley

AU - Hanspach, Jan

AU - Martin, Tara G.

N1 - Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2012/11/14

Y1 - 2012/11/14

N2 - Schemes designed to make farming landscapes less hostile to wildlife have been questioned because target taxa do not always respond in the expected manner. Microbats are often overlooked in this process, yet persist in agricultural landscapes and exert top-down control of crop pests. We investigated the relationship between microbats and measures commonly incorporated into agri-environment schemes, to derive management recommendations for their ongoing conservation. We used acoustic detectors to quantify bat species richness, activity, and feeding in 32 linear remnants and adjacent fields across an agricultural region of New South Wales, Australia. Nocturnal arthropods were simultaneously trapped using black-light traps. We recorded 91,969 bat calls, 17,277 of which could be attributed to one of the 13 taxa recorded, and 491 calls contained feeding buzzes. The linear remnants supported higher bat activity than the fields, but species richness and feeding activity did not significantly differ. We trapped a mean 87.6 g (±17.6 g SE) of arthropods per night, but found no differences in biomass between land uses. Wider linear remnants with intact native vegetation supported more bat species, as did those adjacent to unsealed, as opposed to sealed roads. Fields of unimproved native pastures, with more retained scattered trees and associated hollows and logs, supported the greatest bat species richness and activity. We conclude that the juxtaposition of linear remnants of intact vegetation and scattered trees in fields, coupled with less-intensive land uses such as unimproved pastures will benefit bat communities in agricultural landscapes, and should be incorporated into agri-environment schemes. In contrast, sealed roads may act as a deterrent. The "wildlife friendly farming" vs "land sparing" debate has so far primarily focussed on birds, but here we have found evidence that the integration of both approaches could particularly benefit bats.

AB - Schemes designed to make farming landscapes less hostile to wildlife have been questioned because target taxa do not always respond in the expected manner. Microbats are often overlooked in this process, yet persist in agricultural landscapes and exert top-down control of crop pests. We investigated the relationship between microbats and measures commonly incorporated into agri-environment schemes, to derive management recommendations for their ongoing conservation. We used acoustic detectors to quantify bat species richness, activity, and feeding in 32 linear remnants and adjacent fields across an agricultural region of New South Wales, Australia. Nocturnal arthropods were simultaneously trapped using black-light traps. We recorded 91,969 bat calls, 17,277 of which could be attributed to one of the 13 taxa recorded, and 491 calls contained feeding buzzes. The linear remnants supported higher bat activity than the fields, but species richness and feeding activity did not significantly differ. We trapped a mean 87.6 g (±17.6 g SE) of arthropods per night, but found no differences in biomass between land uses. Wider linear remnants with intact native vegetation supported more bat species, as did those adjacent to unsealed, as opposed to sealed roads. Fields of unimproved native pastures, with more retained scattered trees and associated hollows and logs, supported the greatest bat species richness and activity. We conclude that the juxtaposition of linear remnants of intact vegetation and scattered trees in fields, coupled with less-intensive land uses such as unimproved pastures will benefit bat communities in agricultural landscapes, and should be incorporated into agri-environment schemes. In contrast, sealed roads may act as a deterrent. The "wildlife friendly farming" vs "land sparing" debate has so far primarily focussed on birds, but here we have found evidence that the integration of both approaches could particularly benefit bats.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - agricultural worker

KW - arthropod

KW - article

KW - bat

KW - biomass

KW - Chalinolobus gouldii

KW - Chalinolobus morio

KW - Chalinolobus picatus

KW - crop protection

KW - feeding behavior

KW - habitat fragmentation

KW - land use

KW - landscape

KW - Mormopterus

KW - nonhuman

KW - Nyctophilus

KW - pasture

KW - pest control

KW - Rhinolophus megaphyllus

KW - Saccolaimus flaviventris

KW - Scotorepens balstoni

KW - species conservation

KW - species richness

KW - Tadarida australis

KW - vegetation

KW - Vespadelus darlingtoni

KW - Vespadelus regulus

KW - Vespadelus vulturnus

KW - weather

KW - wildlife

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84869105349&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/2024f56a-d07e-3dc8-8c5e-a19107f8737b/

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0048201

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0048201

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23155378

AN - SCOPUS:84869105349

VL - 7

JO - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 11

M1 - e48201

ER -