Effects of retention forestry on bats: relations between forest structure and the landscape matrix

With more than 1200 species worldwide and comprising roughly one fifth of all mammalian species bats are of great importance for global biodiversity. As bio-indicatorsa they are frequently selected target species for conservation programmes. Most species depend on forests for at least part of the year: forest gaps are used as foraging sites, old and dead trees as roosting locations. However - in spite of the expanding forest area in Europe - only a small proportion thereof is set aside for nature conservation purposes. The vast majority is primarily managed for wood production, which leads to a simplified forest structure, lacking gaps, dead wood and senescent trees. Retention programmes, i…