Effects of Habitat Management for Small Game Species on Bat Activity in Three French Mediterranean Scrublands

Bats play an integral key ecological role in forests, but there is limited understanding of how their richness and activity vary over time in temperate forests and the effect of habitat variables on these species. Herein we describe the seasonal variation of bat species richness, activity and assemblage structure during the reproductive season in a sclerophyllous forest, an endangered temperate Mediterranean forest located in Chile’s biodiversity hotspot. Additionally, we explored the relationship between bat activity and environmental variables (air temperature, vegetation cover, and proximity to water bodies). Species richness and bat activity varied during the breeding season and exhibited two peaks: spring and summer end, markedly decreasing in mid-summer. During spring, the bat assemblage exhibited greater species richness, diversity and evenness, whereas from the end of summer until autumn, both diversity and evenness decreased. Monthly average air temperatures had a positive association with total bat activity, although there was evidence of a threshold temperature over which bat activity significantly decreased. Canopy cover had a negative influence on the activity of Tadarida brasiliensis and Lasiurus varius, whereas increasing distance to water bodies was associated with a lower activity of T. brasiliensis and L. villosissimus. Our study demonstrates that bat diversity and bat activity vary greatly during the reproductive season in an endangered temperate forest, highlighting the importance of knowing seasonal patterns and evidencing that multiple surveys will improve our understanding of bat communities. This study provides relevant information to aid bat monitoring and conservation in the biodiversity hotspot of central Chile.

Long–term variation of demographic parameters in four small game species in Europe: opportunities and limits to test for a global pattern. For decades, decreases in several populations of some small sedentary game species have been reported in Europe. From the literature, we extracted mortality and reproductive rates that were available for European populations in four iconic species, the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), the black grouse(Tetrao tetrix), the capercaillie (T. urogallus) and the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), to examine how demographic parameters vary with time. Our study revealed the need to consider many confounding factors (age, sex, origi of studied individuals, season, country and methods) and the scarcity of recent demographic studies. Statistical analyses showed contrasted patterns of demographic traits with time within and between species. Our results highlighted that there may be consistency with a population decrease in grey partridge and black grouse that has been reported in the literature. However, analyses in capercaillie and brown hare showed less support for a population decrease at the European scale. The significant effects of interactions between time and age (in grey partridge, capercaillie and brown hare), method or origin of individuals on demographic traits and the emergence of contrasted patterns between short, intermediate and long monitoring periods (in grey partridge and black grouse) suggested that further studies should pay particular attention to potential confounding factors. Finally, the lack of recent data and doubts about the relative importance of reported causal factors indicate the need for further studies on the links between demographic traits, densities and environmental changes in the long term, and particularly on the role of predation and habitat change

Field boundaries are important habitat for bats in agricultural landscapes, serving as commuting and foraging areas for many species. The goal of our study was to better understand the drivers of bat activity in agricultural landscapes to inform conservation policy and make specific recommendations for habitat management. We placed sixty-four full spectrum bat detectors at random recording locations, weekly, along field boundaries in North Somerset between July and October 2020. We used an automated classifier to analyse recordings and performed error rate modelling to account for and remove the majority of error in automated classifications. We used generalised additive models to explore bat response to recording location metrics, controlling for spatial-autocorrelation and temporal differences in sampling. We validated our models with k-fold cross-validation and explored the utility of our models for predicting bat activity at new sites. We found that field boundary characteristics better describe bat activity than adjacent field characteristics or measures of local landscape for the majority of species studied. Bat activity was higher along tall, wide, vegetated field boundaries containing trees; there was lower activity at arable recording locations. Still, bat activity was highly variable and predictive error was high. We found a large spatial effect driving activity patterns, meaning models are not able to predict activity beyond the extent of the study area. We recommend management strategies that give incentives to farmers for replacing fences with hedgerows, planting hedgerow trees, and maintaining tall and outgrown field boundaries.

Game kill statistics are often reasonably good indicators of the main rhythm of variation in common small game and predatory species with marked short-term population fluctuations. However, they only poorly reflect general changes in population levels of small game. Yield statistics may indicate major changes in the population levels of some larger mammals like the larger carnivores and deer species. Kill statistics should be supplemented with data on age and reproduction in order to obtain an adequate picture of the age composition of the population. Hunting statistics are essential for proper management of many game species.

In the French Mediterranean region, the progressive abandonment of traditional activities has led to the expansion of scrubland and landscape encroachment, thereby driving biodiversity loss. Hunters participate in habitat management mostly by opening scrubland to increase the habitat of small game species. The aim of our study was to evaluate the contribution of such management to the conservation of non-targeted bird species. In three 30-hectare managed (MA) and unmanaged (UMA) areas we monitored birds in spring using the progressive frequency sampling method (EFP). Species richness (a proxy of alpha diversity) and beta diversity indexes were estimated to compare bird communities in MA and UMA neighbouring areas. We also studied the presence of priority species and the response of bird species along a gradient of management. Our results showed that habitat management of small game species was associated with higher bird species richness, including open-habitat specialists. Most of the Mediterranean bird species detected were present in managed areas, with coexistence of bird species from open and closed environments. Hunters' management of scrubland environments can result in areas of high conservation value for non-targeted bird species. This study could support guidelines for opening scrubland in order to preserve bird diversity.

In Andalusia, southern Spain, each game estate applies its own rules and presents its results in annual hunting reports, which have been mandatory for Spanish game estates since 1989. We used the information about hunting yields, included in 32 134 annual hunting reports produced during the period 1993/94 to 2001/02 by 6049 game estates, to determine the current distribution of hunting yields of big and small game species in Andalusia. Using generalised linear models and a geographic information system, we determined the most favourable municipalities to big and small game, respectively, and delimited potential areas to attain good hunting yields for big and small game at a 1-km2 resolution. Municipalities and areas favourable to big game are mainly located in the Sierra Morena and the westernmost fringe of the Betic Range, while those favourable to small game occupy the upper Guadalquivir River valley. There is a clear segregation between big and small game species according to the physiography and land uses of the territory. Big game species are typical of Mediterranean woodland areas, while the most emblematic small game species prefer agricultural areas. Our results provide a territorial ordination of hunting yields in southern Spain and have several potential applications in strategic planning for hunting activities and biodiversity conservation in Andalusia that can be extrapolated to other regions.

In dry Mediterranean forests, ponds constitute essential water resources for animals, especially during summer months. In southeastern Spain, land use changes and the human abandonment of mountainous zones have led to the loss of many ponds. These ponds are scarce landscape elements and, despite their usually small size (< 1,000 m2), they support a considerable amount of biodiversity. We studied the patterns of use of these ponds by bats during the activity season in dry forest landscapes of a Mediterranean region using acoustic monitoring. Our hypothesis was that these ponds are valuable landscape elements for bats, and bat activity and richness species will be high over them. Bat activity and species richness were compared between ponds and adjacent sampling points in the forest matrix. We recorded 14 bat species and our results show that both general bat activity (all species grouped together) and species richness were higher in the ponds than in the forest areas. Bat activity was higher in June, howev...

We investigated food habits and relationships between food resource abundance and activity of bats. We identified prey remains in guano collected from 337 individuals in the Oregon Coast Range. Guano analyses indicated that 2 species, long-legged myotis (Myotis volans) and Townsend's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), consumed predominantly Lepidoptera; 4 species, California myotis (M. californicus), little brown myotis (M. lucifugus), Yuma myotis (M. yumanensis), and silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), consumed predominantly smaller insects likely of aquatic origin (Diptera and Trichoptera); and the remaining 4 species, long-eared myotis (M. evotis), fringed myotis (M. thysanodes), big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), and hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), consumed predominantly larger invertebrates of terrestrial origin (Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Araneae). We hypothesized that bat activity in riparian areas would be correlated with abundance of preferred insect prey and used an information-theoretic approach to determine whether variability in bat activity was more strongly associated with captures of all insects, of taxa most frequently occurring in the diet, or of particular size classes of insects. We found strong associations between activity of small Myotis species and number of captures of small insects, but activities of larger Myotis species and of non-Myotis species were not associated with numbers of insects of any category.

We described habitat use by bats in Acadia National Park and adjacent sites in eastern Maine. We analyzed frequency of bat passes with Anabat bat detectors to evaluate habitat use at microsite, single patch, and multipatch spatial scales, Most bat captures (91%) were of the genus Myotis, and most of those (74%) were males. Bat activity was concentrated over ponds and along gravel roads at the single-patch scale, and near lakes at the multipatch scale from late spring to late summer, During the early autumn, bat activity decreased overall and was distributed more evenly among patch types. Although our ability to predict areas of high bat activity declined during early autumn, our data indicated that bats appeared to avoid wetlands and sites with dense trees. Management of bat habitat should be considered at multiple spatial and temporal scales. We also recommend that resource managers consider bats when making management decisions concerning lakes, ponds, and gravel roads because bat activity was high at these sites throughout the late spring and summer.

Encounter rates may have multifaceted effects on population dynamics, hunter satisfaction, and hunter retention. However, there is currently a lack of knowledge pertaining to those factors affecting small game flush rates. In an effort to address this paucity of information, we investigated factors that may affect flush rates of 3 small game species: ruffed grouse ( Bonasa umbellus ; hereafter, grouse), northern bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ; hereafter, bobwhite), and rabbit ( Sylvilagus spp.). From 2003 to 2015, we collected cooperator hunting logs for 3,948 grouse hunts, 19,301 rabbit hunts, and 4,798 bobwhite hunts in Kentucky, USA. Hunting success was defined as the number of grouse, rabbit, or bobwhite coveys flushed by a hunting party. We used an information theoretic approach to model variables that may explain variation in hunting success. The number of hunters within a party explained the greatest amount of variation in hunting success for all species, with a positive relationship between the number of hunters and success. Similarly, for grouse and rabbit, we observed a positive relationship between the number of dogs in a party and hunting success. Weather variables and annual abundance indices were not supported in any competing models explaining hunting success, suggesting a possible scale mismatch related to these broad‐scale data and more localized conditions experienced by hunting parties. Our research indicates that increasing hunting party size through the addition of hunters and dogs was a unifying influence on increasing hunting success (likely through increased hunting corridors) across small game species. This information can be useful for agencies seeking to increase or maintain support for small game hunters in the future. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Although the Vespertilionid bats typically hibernate during the winter to minimize energy expenditure in the cold months, in the temperate regions torpor breaks can be rather frequent. The aim of our study was to conduct a preliminary characterisation of the winter bat activity patterns in Mediterranean peri-urban deciduous forests of North Portugal. Echolocation calls were recorded between November and February, and bat activity was regularly detected on warm evenings, with sun set temperatures above 4.6°C during the night sampling, mostly in November (89.9%), only rarely in December (3.7%) and February (6.4%) and without activity detected in January. The most commonly recorded species were Pipistrellus pygmaeus, P. pipistrellus, and P. kuhlii. Socialization activity was mostly concentrated in November (96.8%), only with rare records in February (3.2%) and absent in December and January. Regarding the best fitting average model, obtained by the Multi-Model Inference (MMI) method to explaining the variation of bat passes, the main positive influencing factors are related with the night period of the monitoring process and temperature, and the negative influence with the precipitation recorded in the last 48 hours before surveys. The MMI results for the variation of social calls revealed as significant positive influences the humidity, temperature and wind speed and as negative influence the precipitation recorded in the last 48 hours before surveys. We outline our study as a promising baseline to the studies of winter bat activity, demonstrating how the present and past weather conditions can play a major role in bat torpor breaks. Therefore, for conservation purposes, further winter acoustic research efforts should be consider mandatory for full understanding the bat activity patterns facing the potential impacts of global climatic changes expected to occur in the Mediterranean region.

Near-natural or semi-natural forests such as relatively undisturbed and old deciduous or mixed woodland are considered worth protecting and ecologically valuable habitats for bat conservation. In contrast, mono-specific forest plantations are considered ecologically less valuable; thus, decision-makers recommend these plantations as suitable locations for wind power stations and therefore want to further expand wind turbines in these habitats. This is expected to have a strong negative impact on the landscape because forests would be cleared for wind turbine pads and access roads and wind turbines rise above the trees with adverse impacts for bats. Therefore, we argue that, in light of bat conservation, the suitability of forest plantations for wind energy development is not, per se, warranted and that implications of wind power stations, even in mono-specific forest plantations, should be assessed and evaluated. We conducted long-term bat activity monitoring and recorded bat echolocation calls above the canopies of different forest sites (coniferous monoculture plantations and semi-natural mixed deciduous forests) in Germany and compared different forest types in terms of species richness, total bat activity, activity of the three bat species groups and species composition. Generalised linear models revealed that forest type and the amount of forest biotopes did not enhance bat activity. Ordination showed that species composition was not affected by forest type, location and connectivity. Mono-specific forest plantations can harbour a diverse bat fauna with high species activity and are, therefore, valuable bat habitats just as near-natural or semi-natural woodlands are. Environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures are vital in all forest types before and after planning for wind energy turbines. In particular, future planning and approval processes must consider the importance of mono-specific forest plantations for bat species protection.

European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) are main small game species of conservation concern in Mediterranean ecosystems. To date, their presence in wild boar’s (Sus scrofa) diet and factors driving their consumption have been little investigated. A genetic metabarcoding approach was used on 80 wild boar faeces collected from four hunting estates devoted to small game hunting during two different seasons. Abundances of wild boar, rabbits and partridges were first estimated. Results showed DNA of seventeen chordate species. The highest frequency of occurrence (FO) corresponded to mammals and birds, with 77.6 and 22.3%, respectively. DNA of game species was detected in 39/71 (FO = 55.0%) samples, highlighting the presence of European wild rabbit in 27 (FO = 38.0%) and red-legged partridge in eight (FO = 11.3%). Dietary composition varied between seasons and estates, being rabbit the main responsible (explaining 35.26% and 39.45% of differences, respectively). Rabbit FO in the diet was positively related to the abundance of wild boar and rabbit density on the estate. It was greater in autumn and in estates where rabbits were hunted. Regarding red-legged partridge, a significant and positive relationship between its population density and its diet FO was observed, without significant differences between seasons or estates. Overall, our results suggest wild boar as an opportunistic species whose diet is largely determined by the relative availability of different food resources. Its ecological role concerning small game species in Mediterranean agroecosystems seems to be more related to consumption of carrion during the hunting season than to direct predation.

Effects of free-ranging cattle and landscape complexity on bat foraging: Implications for bat conservation and livestock management

Previous studies have shown that bat activity is greater along forest-clearcut edges than in the center of clearcuts or in the forest interior. Residual patches of trees in logged areas may also provide habitat for bats. To investigate this, we monitored bat activity at three locations within cutblocks: along the outside edge of the forest cutblock, in the center of the clearcut portion of the cutblock and along the outside edge of the residual patches of trees, at the EMEND (Ecosystem Management by Emulating Natural Disturbance) study site in northern Alberta, during the summer of 2000. Our results indicate that small maneuverable species such as Myotis lucifugus and M. septentrionalis were equally active along the edge of residual patches and the forest edge of cutblocks and least active in the center of cutblocks. Larger species, such as Lasionycteris noctivagans, showed no preference. Thus, patches of residual trees provide commuting habitat, and potentially foraging habitat, for bats.