Abstract
Bats are primary consumers of nocturnal insects, disperse nutrients across landscapes, and are excellent bioindicators of an ecosystem’s health, however four of the seventeen Great British species are listed as declining. In this study we aim to investigate the link between bat guano morphology and diet, specifically looking at the ability to predict 1) species, 2) dietary guild, and 3) bat size, using guano morphology alone. Guano from 16 bat species sampled from across Great Britain were analysed to determine various morphological metrics. These data were coupled with diet data obtained by an extensive literature review. It was found that guano morphology overlapped too much to make predictions on the species of bat which deposited the guano, however, in some cases, it could be used to indicate the dietary guild to which the bat belonged. In general, guano morphology seems more correlated to diet than species. This enables the identification of the most important prey taxa within a local environment; a crucial step for informing conservation strategies.
Highlights
Bats are the second largest group of mammals
Bats are pivotal to supporting global biodiversity; they are the primary consumers of nocturnal insects, disperse nutrients across landscapes, and are excellent bioindicators of an ecosystem’s health [1,2,3]
In this study we investigate guano morphology data’s ability to identify 1) species, 2) dietary guilds and 3) bat size
Summary
Bats (order Chiroptera) are the second largest group of mammals. Bats are pivotal to supporting global biodiversity; they are the primary consumers of nocturnal insects, disperse nutrients across landscapes, and are excellent bioindicators of an ecosystem’s health [1,2,3]. The plethora of threats faced by bats include (but are not limited to): unsympathetic development projects, destruction of tree lines and hedgerows, the drainage of wetlands, infectious diseases, and the impact of pesticides [5, 7]. Climate change may have a highly detrimental impact on bats, including changes in prey abundances, alterations in the efficacy of echolocation calls, and the consequences of extreme weather events [8, 9]. This is why it is vital to understand their ecological niches and correctly identify species
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