The activity of an insectivorous bat Neoromicia nana on tracks in logged and unlogged forest in tropical Africa
Författare
Summary, in English
Logging activities and the associated creation of roads and tracks can disturb and fragment forests, which may lead to a loss of forest-dependent species and possibly favour nonforest generalists and edge species. The effects of such disturbance are poorly known for African insectivorous bats. We studied the activity patterns of insectivorous bats in a tropical African forest at Kibale National Park, Uganda, using an Anabat bat detector. The echolocation calls of the vespertilionid bat Neoromicia nana were the most frequently detected. This species was most active in the first 5 h after sunset with activity declining rapidly after midnight until sampling finished at 01:00 h. There was no difference in activity of N. nana levels between logged or undisturbed forest; however, this species exhibited higher levels of activity along the wide tracks running through the two forests than either 30 m off these tracks or along the narrow forest trails. The wing morphology and echolocation call of N. nana may be constraining it to flying in uncluttered space on the edge of the forest, penetrating mostly along wider tracks and roads. Further research (in particular radio-telemetry) is required to test and validate these data.Resume
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2010
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
1083-1091
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
African Journal of Ecology
Volym
48
Issue
4
Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Wiley-Blackwell
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Nyckelord
- foraging habitat
- banana bats
- echolocation
- forest
- Neoromicia
- trails
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Microbial Ecology
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1365-2028