Abstract
Many local scale studies have shown that bats respond to water quality degradation or urbanization in a species‐specific manner. However, few have separated the effects of urbanization versus water quality degradation on bats, in single city or single watershed case studies. Across North Carolina, USA, we used the standardized North American Bat Monitoring Program mobile transect protocol to survey bat activity in 2015 and 2016 at 41 sites. We collected statewide water quality and urban land cover data to disentangle the effects of urbanization and water quality degradation on bats at the landscape scale. We found that statewide, water quality degradation and urbanization were not correlated. We found that bats responded to water quality degradation and urbanization independently at the landscape scale. Eptesicus fuscus and Lasiurus cinereus negatively responded to water quality degradation. Lasiurus borealis and Perimyotis subflavus positively responded to water quality degradation. Lasionycteris noctivagans did not respond to water quality degradation but was more active in more urbanized areas. Tadarida brasiliensis positively responded to urbanization and was less active in areas with degraded water quality. We show that bat–water quality relationships found at the local scale are evident at a landscape scale. We confirm that bats are useful bioindicators for both urbanization and water quality degradation. We suggest that water quality can be used to predict the presence of bat species of conservation concern, such as P. subflavus, in areas where it has not been studied locally.
Highlights
Freshwater ecosystems are important to bats (Salvarina, 2016)
Based on previous literature (Li & Wilkins, 2014; Neubaum et al, 2007), we predicted that E. fuscus and Tadarida brasiliensis would respond positively to urbanization whereas other species, such as N. humeralis and P. subflavus would have no response
We did not find any correlation between water quality and urban land cover likely because
Summary
Freshwater ecosystems are important to bats (Salvarina, 2016). Their importance to bats has been found in regions with an arid climate (e.g., Korine, Adams, Shamir, & Gross, 2015; Korine & Pinshow, 2004; Razgour, Korine, & Saltz, 2010; Williams & Dickman, 2004) and in humid climates (Seibold, Buchner, Bässler, & Müller, 2013). Many local scale studies have demonstrated species- specific bat activity responses to water quality change (e.g., Clarke- Wood et al, 2016; Kalcounis-Rueppell et al, 2007; Korine et al, 2015; Naidoo et al, 2013; Vaughan, Jones, & Harris, 1996). In many of the studies mentioned above, point sources in human settlements, such as sewage effluent or wastewater treatment plant effluent, were studied to quantify pollution or form a polluted versus nonpolluted pair experimental design (e.g., Kalcounis-Rueppell et al, 2007; Naidoo et al, 2013; Vaughan et al, 1996) In these studies, water quality degradation was concomitant with urbanization gradients (Clarke-Wood et al, 2016; Kalcounis-Rueppell et al, 2007) making it difficult to disentangle the effects of water quality and urbanization. Based on previous literature (Li & Wilkins, 2014; Neubaum et al, 2007), we predicted that E. fuscus and Tadarida brasiliensis would respond positively to urbanization whereas other species, such as N. humeralis and P. subflavus would have no response
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