K. Armstrong, J. Broken-Brow, G. Hoye, G. Ford, M. Thomas, C. Corben
{"title":"Effective detection and identification of sheath-tailed bats of Australian forests and woodlands","authors":"K. Armstrong, J. Broken-Brow, G. Hoye, G. Ford, M. Thomas, C. Corben","doi":"10.1071/zo20044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/zo20044","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88118160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stewart L. Macdonald, M. Bradford, Adam McKeown, E. Vanderduys, A. Hoskins, D. Westcott
. 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.
{"title":"Camp site habitat preferences of the little red flying-fox (Pteropus scapulatus) in Queensland","authors":"Stewart L. Macdonald, M. Bradford, Adam McKeown, E. Vanderduys, A. Hoskins, D. Westcott","doi":"10.1071/zo20079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/zo20079","url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87056057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
From September 27 through October 5, 2019, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a geophysical survey to investigate shoreface morphology and geology near the Rockaway Peninsula, New York. The Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-related impacts, post-storm beach response, and recovery. This publication serves as an archive of high-resolution chirp subbottom trace data, survey trackline map, navigation files, geographic information system (GIS) data, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). Processed subbottom profile images are also provided. The archived trace data are in standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y revision 0 format (Barry and others, 1975). In addition to this data release, the SEG-Y files can be downloaded from the USGS Coastal and Marine Geoscience Data System (CMGDS) at, https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov. Bathymetry and backscatter data were also collected during this survey and are available in Stalk and others (2020).
{"title":"Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile, Imagery, and Geospatial Data Collected in 2019 from Rockaway Peninsula, New York","authors":"Arnell S. Forde Emily A. Wei Nancy T. DeWitt","doi":"10.5066/P9ZO8QKJ","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZO8QKJ","url":null,"abstract":"From September 27 through October 5, 2019, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a geophysical survey to investigate shoreface morphology and geology near the Rockaway Peninsula, New York. The Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-related impacts, post-storm beach response, and recovery. This publication serves as an archive of high-resolution chirp subbottom trace data, survey trackline map, navigation files, geographic information system (GIS) data, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM). Processed subbottom profile images are also provided. The archived trace data are in standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y revision 0 format (Barry and others, 1975). In addition to this data release, the SEG-Y files can be downloaded from the USGS Coastal and Marine Geoscience Data System (CMGDS) at, https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov. Bathymetry and backscatter data were also collected during this survey and are available in Stalk and others (2020).","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"58 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84882069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
K. Bell, K. Batchelor, M. Bradford, Adam McKeown, Stewart L. Macdonald, D. Westcott
. Determining the diet of fl ying-foxes can increase understanding of how they function as pollinators and seed dispersers, as well as managing any negative impacts of large roosts. Traditional methods for diet analysis are time consuming, and not feasible to conduct for hundreds of animals. In this study, we optimised a method for diet analysis, based on DNA metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) from pollen and other plant parts in the faeces. We found that existing eDNA metabarcoding protocols are suitable, with the most useful results being obtained using a commercial food DNA extraction kit, and sequencing 350 – 450 base pairs of a DNA barcode from the internally transcribed spacer region (ITS2), with ~550 base pairs of the chloroplast rubisco large subunit ( rbcL ) as a secondary DNA barcode. A list of forage plants was generated for the little red fl ying-fox ( Pteropus scapulatus ), the black fl ying-fox ( Pteropus alecto ) and the spectacled fl ying-fox ( Pteropus conspicillatus ) from our collection sites across Queensland. The diets were determined to comprise predominantly Myrtaceae species, particularly those in the genera Eucalyptus , Melaleuca and Corymbia. With more plant genomes becoming publicly available in the future, there are likely to be further applications of eDNA methods in understanding the role of fl ying-foxes as pollinators and seed dispersers.
{"title":"Optimisation of a pollen DNA metabarcoding method for diet analysis of flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.)","authors":"K. Bell, K. Batchelor, M. Bradford, Adam McKeown, Stewart L. Macdonald, D. Westcott","doi":"10.1071/zo20085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/zo20085","url":null,"abstract":". Determining the diet of fl ying-foxes can increase understanding of how they function as pollinators and seed dispersers, as well as managing any negative impacts of large roosts. Traditional methods for diet analysis are time consuming, and not feasible to conduct for hundreds of animals. In this study, we optimised a method for diet analysis, based on DNA metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) from pollen and other plant parts in the faeces. We found that existing eDNA metabarcoding protocols are suitable, with the most useful results being obtained using a commercial food DNA extraction kit, and sequencing 350 – 450 base pairs of a DNA barcode from the internally transcribed spacer region (ITS2), with ~550 base pairs of the chloroplast rubisco large subunit ( rbcL ) as a secondary DNA barcode. A list of forage plants was generated for the little red fl ying-fox ( Pteropus scapulatus ), the black fl ying-fox ( Pteropus alecto ) and the spectacled fl ying-fox ( Pteropus conspicillatus ) from our collection sites across Queensland. The diets were determined to comprise predominantly Myrtaceae species, particularly those in the genera Eucalyptus , Melaleuca and Corymbia. With more plant genomes becoming publicly available in the future, there are likely to be further applications of eDNA methods in understanding the role of fl ying-foxes as pollinators and seed dispersers.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89402707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
L. Joseph, Catriona D. Campbell, Lynn P. Pedler, A. Drew
Abstract. Using single nucleotide polymorphisms and mitochondrial DNA sequences we find some evidence of genetic structure within a widespread and naturally fragmented species, the purple-gaped honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius), of southern Australian mallee shrublands. The very earliest stages of differentiation either side of the Nullarbor Barrier may already have been arrested by gene flow, some of which may have been anthropogenically induced.
{"title":"Genomic data show little geographical structure across the naturally fragmented range of the purple-gaped honeyeater","authors":"L. Joseph, Catriona D. Campbell, Lynn P. Pedler, A. Drew","doi":"10.1071/ZO20074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20074","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Using single nucleotide polymorphisms and mitochondrial DNA sequences we find some evidence of genetic structure within a widespread and naturally fragmented species, the purple-gaped honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius), of southern Australian mallee shrublands. The very earliest stages of differentiation either side of the Nullarbor Barrier may already have been arrested by gene flow, some of which may have been anthropogenically induced.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"24 1","pages":"226 - 230"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90281664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract. Fire is notably becoming more intense, frequent and widespread due to climate change. In northern Australia, inappropriate fire regimes have been implicated in mammal declines, yet nothing is known about how different aspects of fire regimes affect bats in this region. This study aimed to determine how fire intensity, associated with seasonality, affects insectivorous bats on a local scale. An experimental M BACI approach was used on five site replicates across Cape York Peninsula, where ultrasonic detectors were used to determine the activity of insectivorous bats in response to low intensity burns (LIBs) and high intensity burns (HIBs) on a local scale. Total bat activity increased due to LIBs, but showed no response to HIBs. Activity of edge-open guild bats also increased due to LIBs but decreased in response to HIBs. Activity of open guild bats was unaffected by LIBs, but exhibited a strong positive response to HIBs. Activity of closed guild bats showed no response to fire, or fire intensity. Responses were likely derived from changes in habitat structure and prey availability. Given that each bat guild responded differently to each fire intensity, this lends support to the ‘pyrodiversity begets biodiversity’ concept, which is currently the basis for many fire management practices for conservation in northern Australia.
{"title":"Effect of fire on insectivorous bat activity in northern Australia: does fire intensity matter on a local scale?","authors":"J. Broken-Brow, A. Hitch, K. Armstrong, L. Leung","doi":"10.1071/ZO20030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Fire is notably becoming more intense, frequent and widespread due to climate change. In northern Australia, inappropriate fire regimes have been implicated in mammal declines, yet nothing is known about how different aspects of fire regimes affect bats in this region. This study aimed to determine how fire intensity, associated with seasonality, affects insectivorous bats on a local scale. An experimental M BACI approach was used on five site replicates across Cape York Peninsula, where ultrasonic detectors were used to determine the activity of insectivorous bats in response to low intensity burns (LIBs) and high intensity burns (HIBs) on a local scale. Total bat activity increased due to LIBs, but showed no response to HIBs. Activity of edge-open guild bats also increased due to LIBs but decreased in response to HIBs. Activity of open guild bats was unaffected by LIBs, but exhibited a strong positive response to HIBs. Activity of closed guild bats showed no response to fire, or fire intensity. Responses were likely derived from changes in habitat structure and prey availability. Given that each bat guild responded differently to each fire intensity, this lends support to the ‘pyrodiversity begets biodiversity’ concept, which is currently the basis for many fire management practices for conservation in northern Australia.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"23 1","pages":"260 - 268"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91190156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract. Cave-dwelling microbats are known to occupy abandoned mines, which can be important habitat for threatened species. Surveys and monitoring between 2012 and 2014 in Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area identified use of three adits from historic mine workings by three species: Chalinolobus dwyeri, Miniopterus orianae oceanensis and Rhinolophus megaphyllus. One of the adits is a potential small maternity roost for the threatened M. o. oceanensis, as indicated by captures of pregnant females in December 2014, as well as increased emergence counts and call activity in spring compared with autumn. While there were some signs of reproducing R. megaphyllus at the adits (a single pregnant female in late October, and postlactating females and juveniles in February) the complete absence of females during December trapping indicated otherwise. Use of the three adits was typical for roost and access preferences of the species, with only R. megaphyllus occupying a doored adit and all species recorded at a large unobstructed adit, and a shallow adit likely only used as a night roost by all species.
{"title":"Seasonal occupancy of abandoned mines by cave-dwelling bats in the western Blue Mountains, New South Wales","authors":"E. Williams","doi":"10.1071/ZO20059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20059","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Cave-dwelling microbats are known to occupy abandoned mines, which can be important habitat for threatened species. Surveys and monitoring between 2012 and 2014 in Mugii Murum-ban State Conservation Area identified use of three adits from historic mine workings by three species: Chalinolobus dwyeri, Miniopterus orianae oceanensis and Rhinolophus megaphyllus. One of the adits is a potential small maternity roost for the threatened M. o. oceanensis, as indicated by captures of pregnant females in December 2014, as well as increased emergence counts and call activity in spring compared with autumn. While there were some signs of reproducing R. megaphyllus at the adits (a single pregnant female in late October, and postlactating females and juveniles in February) the complete absence of females during December trapping indicated otherwise. Use of the three adits was typical for roost and access preferences of the species, with only R. megaphyllus occupying a doored adit and all species recorded at a large unobstructed adit, and a shallow adit likely only used as a night roost by all species.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"1 1","pages":"301 - 304"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83499515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract. Little is known about the social behaviour of roosting insectivorous bats in Australia. Interactions between individuals and movements between multiple roosts at a building maternity site of the chocolate wattled bat (Chalinolobus morio) were examined using video observation and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging, respectively. Bats of both sexes were seen to allogroom, which involved pairs of individuals simultaneously grooming each other around the face. This is the first occurrence of allogrooming reported between male vespertilionids, globally. In total, 366 bats were PIT tagged and analysis of movements revealed that bats exhibited a fission–fusion pattern of roost usage with sufficient switching among nearby roosts, such that all individuals were potentially able to associate and interact over a period of 150–200 days. Rates of roost fidelity varied markedly from 1 to 7.2 days of continuous occupancy of roosts, with females exhibiting slightly higher overall levels of fidelity over the nine-month monitoring period. The information gained from this study, when combined with results from other research, provides a sufficient basis for the description of the apparent breeding system for this species, where both males and females at the summer maternity roost are natally philopatric and mating takes place over winter in an expanded gene pool, comprising individuals that have dispersed from multiple summer maternity roosts.
{"title":"Social interactions, roost usage and notes on the breeding system of the chocolate wattled bat (Chalinolobus morio) in south-east Queensland, Australia","authors":"B. Thomson","doi":"10.1071/ZO20049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20049","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Little is known about the social behaviour of roosting insectivorous bats in Australia. Interactions between individuals and movements between multiple roosts at a building maternity site of the chocolate wattled bat (Chalinolobus morio) were examined using video observation and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging, respectively. Bats of both sexes were seen to allogroom, which involved pairs of individuals simultaneously grooming each other around the face. This is the first occurrence of allogrooming reported between male vespertilionids, globally. In total, 366 bats were PIT tagged and analysis of movements revealed that bats exhibited a fission–fusion pattern of roost usage with sufficient switching among nearby roosts, such that all individuals were potentially able to associate and interact over a period of 150–200 days. Rates of roost fidelity varied markedly from 1 to 7.2 days of continuous occupancy of roosts, with females exhibiting slightly higher overall levels of fidelity over the nine-month monitoring period. The information gained from this study, when combined with results from other research, provides a sufficient basis for the description of the apparent breeding system for this species, where both males and females at the summer maternity roost are natally philopatric and mating takes place over winter in an expanded gene pool, comprising individuals that have dispersed from multiple summer maternity roosts.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"22 1","pages":"290 - 300"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85071601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract. Extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves and droughts) can expose animals to environmental conditions outside of their zones of physiological tolerance, and even resistance, and impact long-term viability of populations and species. We examined the thermal and hygric physiology of the critically endangered western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis), a member of a family of marsupial folivores (Pseudocheiridae) that appear particularly vulnerable to environmental extremes. Basal metabolic rate and other standard physiological variables measured at an ambient temperature of 30°C conformed to values for other marsupials. At lower temperatures, body temperature decreased slightly, and metabolic rate increased significantly at 5°C. At higher temperatures, possums experienced mild hyperthermia and increased evaporative heat loss by licking rather than panting. Their point of relative water economy (–8.7°C) was more favourable than other pseudocheirid possums and the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). We predict that western ringtail possums should tolerate low ambient temperatures well and be more physiologically tolerant of hot and dry conditions than common (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and particularly green (Pseudochirops archeri) ringtail possums, and koalas. Our physiological data can be incorporated into mechanistic species distribution models to test our hypothesis that western ringtail possums should physiologically tolerate the climate of habitat further inland than their current distribution, and withstand moderate impacts of climate change in the south-west of Western Australia.
{"title":"Physiological implications of climate change for a critically endangered Australian marsupial","authors":"C. Cooper, P. Withers, James M. Turner","doi":"10.1071/ZO20067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20067","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves and droughts) can expose animals to environmental conditions outside of their zones of physiological tolerance, and even resistance, and impact long-term viability of populations and species. We examined the thermal and hygric physiology of the critically endangered western ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis), a member of a family of marsupial folivores (Pseudocheiridae) that appear particularly vulnerable to environmental extremes. Basal metabolic rate and other standard physiological variables measured at an ambient temperature of 30°C conformed to values for other marsupials. At lower temperatures, body temperature decreased slightly, and metabolic rate increased significantly at 5°C. At higher temperatures, possums experienced mild hyperthermia and increased evaporative heat loss by licking rather than panting. Their point of relative water economy (–8.7°C) was more favourable than other pseudocheirid possums and the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus). We predict that western ringtail possums should tolerate low ambient temperatures well and be more physiologically tolerant of hot and dry conditions than common (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and particularly green (Pseudochirops archeri) ringtail possums, and koalas. Our physiological data can be incorporated into mechanistic species distribution models to test our hypothesis that western ringtail possums should physiologically tolerate the climate of habitat further inland than their current distribution, and withstand moderate impacts of climate change in the south-west of Western Australia.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"9 1","pages":"200 - 211"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74697112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lisa N. Godinho, L. Lumsden, G. Coulson, S. R. Griffiths
Abstract. Bat boxes are often used as a conservation tool in human-disturbed landscapes across Australia; however, to assess their effectiveness we need to understand the factors influencing their occupancy by insectivorous bats. We investigated roost selection by Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii) using 76 bat boxes, comprising six designs, across three sites in suburban Melbourne, Australia. We conducted monthly surveys for a year and recorded the physical characteristics of each box. Five species of bats were recorded but Gould’s wattled bats dominated box occupancy year-round at all three sites. Group sizes ranged from 1 to 58 individuals, with maternity colonies forming over summer. There was little consistency in the use of selection criteria by Gould’s wattled bats when choosing a bat box as a day roost, with considerable variability across sites and seasons, highlighting the flexibility in roost site selection by this widespread, adaptable species. Our findings show that bat boxes can be an effective tool for providing supplementary roosts for Gould’s wattled bats in urbanised landscapes. However, little is known about the impact on the whole bat community, especially disturbance-sensitive taxa, of artificially increasing roosting resources for common species.
{"title":"Flexible roost selection by Gould’s wattled bats (Chalinolobus gouldii) using bat boxes in an urban landscape","authors":"Lisa N. Godinho, L. Lumsden, G. Coulson, S. R. Griffiths","doi":"10.1071/ZO20022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20022","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract. Bat boxes are often used as a conservation tool in human-disturbed landscapes across Australia; however, to assess their effectiveness we need to understand the factors influencing their occupancy by insectivorous bats. We investigated roost selection by Gould’s wattled bat (Chalinolobus gouldii) using 76 bat boxes, comprising six designs, across three sites in suburban Melbourne, Australia. We conducted monthly surveys for a year and recorded the physical characteristics of each box. Five species of bats were recorded but Gould’s wattled bats dominated box occupancy year-round at all three sites. Group sizes ranged from 1 to 58 individuals, with maternity colonies forming over summer. There was little consistency in the use of selection criteria by Gould’s wattled bats when choosing a bat box as a day roost, with considerable variability across sites and seasons, highlighting the flexibility in roost site selection by this widespread, adaptable species. Our findings show that bat boxes can be an effective tool for providing supplementary roosts for Gould’s wattled bats in urbanised landscapes. However, little is known about the impact on the whole bat community, especially disturbance-sensitive taxa, of artificially increasing roosting resources for common species.","PeriodicalId":55420,"journal":{"name":"Australian Journal of Zoology","volume":"203 1","pages":"269 - 280"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2020-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77018372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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