0000000001323925
AUTHOR
Martin Obrist
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…
How do stand characteristics and crown heterogeneity influence bat activity in forests?
In forest ecosystems, changes in three-dimensional structure that may be induced by forest management influence the presence and abundance of plant and animal species. This is particularly true for bats as they make extensive use of the three-dimensional habitat space in forests for foraging and commuting purposes. Bats show different responses to vegetation structure depending on their foraging strategies and ecomorphological and acoustic traits such as wing morphology and echolocation call design. For instance, species with low wing loading and short-range echolocation are more likely to be found foraging within the forest where the vegetation is relatively dense whereas species with high…