Characterising the relationship between suitable habitat and gene flow for Myotis bechsteinii and Eptesicus serotinus in Britain

P G R Wright,F Mathews,P B Hamilton,C Bellamy,D Finch,H Schofield

doi:10.1007/s10980-021-01317-4

P G R Wright, F Mathews + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01317-4

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Abstract

ContextHabitat suitability models (HSM) have been used to understand the impacts of landscape-scale habitat connectivity and gene flow mostly by assuming a regular decrease in the cost of movement as habitat improves. Yet, habitat selection and gene flow are governed by different behavioural processes which may limit the reliability of this approach as individuals are likely to disperse through unsuitable habitat for breeding.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to identify the optimal relationship between gene flow and HSMs for two bat species (Myotis bechsteinii and Eptesicus serotinus) in Britain by testing a range of nonlinear negative exponential functions for the transformation of HSMs into resistance surfaces.MethodsWe modelled habitat suitability using a hierarchical, multi-level approach that integrates models across three nested levels. Then, we measured the relationship between published genetics data of both species and six negative exponential transformations of the predicted outputs.ResultsThe two most extreme transformations provided the best fit to genetic data for both M. bechsteinii (c = 32; R2 = 0.87) and E. serotinus (c = 16; R2 = 0.42). The negative linear transformations had the poorest fit.ConclusionsThese results suggest that bats are able to disperse through areas of poor habitat for breeding, but will avoid the most unsuitable areas. We recommend comparing multiple transformations of HSMs at different resolutions to gain a more accurate representation of gene flow across heterogeneous landscapes and to inform cost-effective, targeted management.

Highlights

Land use change and intensification are major contributors towards the rapid and ongoing decline of biodiversity (Ceballos et al 2017)
Multi-level Habitat Suitability Modelling (HSM) framework developed by Bellamy et al (2020) to model habitat suitability in Britain for M. bechsteinii, a woodland specialist that performs autumnal swarming, and E. serotinus, a more generalist species that is not known to occur at swarming sites
In the home range level model, high cover of both protected broadleaf and ancient woodland were associated with the presence of M. bechsteinii; whilst no clear patterns were identified with E. serotinus outside the importance of the preceding population range level (Supplementary Information 4–10 for permutation importance and 5–11 for response curves)

Summary

Introduction

Land use change and intensification are major contributors towards the rapid and ongoing decline of biodiversity (Ceballos et al 2017). Habitat Suitability Modelling (HSM) is increasingly used to fill these knowledge gaps (Elith and Leathwick 2009; Bellamy et al 2013) This approach predicts the distribution of a species and provides information on the underlying drivers using occurrence records and environmental data layers (Guisan et al 2017; Guisan and Zimmermann 2000). As well as understanding and predicting habitat suitability, effective conservation action requires information on how landscapes influence species movements and gene flow (Razgour et al 2016). Major barriers, such as mountain ranges or seas, are easy to identify and detect for some species Landscape genetic approaches have been used to assess the amount of connectivity between habitats in a fragmented landscape (e.g. Clauzel et al 2015; RamirezReyes et al 2016); characterise features affecting genetic variation; identify isolated populations; map and design potential wildlife corridors to facilitate dispersal and gene flow (Balkenhol et al 2016; Razgour et al 2016) and predict the impact of landscape changes on wildlife (Razgour et al 2017)

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