Camp site habitat preferences of the little red flying-fox (Pteropus scapulatus) in Queensland

Abstract

. Urban fl ying-fox camps are a major source of human – wildlife con fl ict, producing noise, odour, vegetation damage, property damage, and concerns about disease. Although there is a signi fi cant demand in many communities for bat camps to be dispersed, there is limited information on how such dispersal can be conducted effectively. Determining the habitat characteristics fl ying-foxes use when selecting a camp site is key to understanding why they establish camps where they do and to where they might move if dispersed. We characterised little red fl ying-fox (LRFF) camp habitat at two spatial scales: fl oristics and vegetation structure at the local scale, and climatic and landscape characteristics at the broad scale. We found weak associations with local-scale tree and shrub height and cover, and stronger associations with increased Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (a measure of ‘ greenness ’ ) and decreased distance to nearest watercourse. These relationships were not strong enough to explain all variation in the model, suggesting that there are other factors, such as social cues, that could also in fl uence camp site selection. Our results suggest that minor modi fi cations to existing or proposed camp sites will be unlikely to repel or attract LRFFs, as other factors are likely to play key roles in the formation of camp sites for this species.