Abstract
To conserve biodiversity it is imperative that we understand how different species respond to land use change, and determine the scales at which habitat changes affect species' persistence. We used habitat suitability models (HSMs) at spatial scales from 100–4000m to address these concerns for bats in the Western Ghats of India, a biodiversity hotspot of global importance where the habitat requirements of bats are poorly understood. We used acoustic and capture data to build fine scale HSMs for ten species (Hesperoptenus tickelli, Miniopterus fuliginosus, Miniopterus pusillus, Myotis horsfieldii, Pipistrellus ceylonicus, Megaderma spasma, Hipposideros pomona, Rhinolophus beddomei, Rhinolophus indorouxii and Rhinolophus lepidus) in a tea-dominated landscape. Small (100–500m) scale habitat variables (e.g. percentage tea plantation cover) and distances to habitat features (e.g. distance to water) were the strongest predictors of bat occurrence, likely due to their high mobility, which enables them to exploit even small or isolated foraging areas. Most species showed a positive response to coffee plantations grown under native shade and to forest fragments, but a negative response to more heavily modified tea plantations. Two species were never recorded in tea plantations. This is the first study of bats in tea plantations globally, and the first ecological Old World bat study to combine acoustic and capture data. Our results suggest that although bats respond negatively to tea plantations, tea-dominated landscapes that also contain forest fragments and shade coffee can nevertheless support many bat species.
Highlights
The need to protect and enhance the biodiversity potential of agricultural areas has become widely recognised (Daily, 2001; Daily et al, 2003; Perfecto et al, 2009; Mendenhall et al, 2014) as it becomes clear that even biodiversity in large habitat patches is not extinction proof if the patches are isolated (Ferraz et al, 2003)
The extent of tea plantations in the surrounding landscape was an important predictor of habitat suitability for three species, with suitability declining in all cases with increasing cover of tea
Water variables were most important for Myotis horsfieldii, which appears to be a riparian specialist, but distance to water featured in the final model for Rhinolophus indorouxii, with both species declining away from water
Summary
The need to protect and enhance the biodiversity potential of agricultural areas has become widely recognised (Daily, 2001; Daily et al, 2003; Perfecto et al, 2009; Mendenhall et al, 2014) as it becomes clear that even biodiversity in large habitat patches is not extinction proof if the patches are isolated (Ferraz et al, 2003). Large tracts of the Western Ghats are currently planted with tea, coffee, cardamom, eucalyptus and other crops, and much of the forest remains only as small fragments (Menon and Bawa, 1997; Bawa et al, 2007). Even these fragments can support a high diversity of species, including endemic mammals, birds and herpetofauna as well as large predators and Asian elephants, most of which use agricultural areas (Mudappa and Raman, 2007; Sridhar et al, 2008; Anand et al, 2010). The response of bats to forest fragmentation and land use change in the Western Ghats is poorly known, despite the importance of these species in ecosystems (Kunz et al, 2011)
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