Coastal cliffs on islands as foraging habitat for bats
Författare
Summary, in English
Small islands usually show simplified ecosystems with limited availability of suitable foraging habitats for bats, thus habitat selection on islands may differ compared to the mainland. Habitats that are marginal on the mainland may be important on islands. The island of Capri consists, to a large extent, of steep limestone cliffs and Mediterranean shrubland, with virtually no forests or other habitats preferred by bats on the mainland. In this study we tested the hypothesis that in resource-limited systems, such as islands, habitats generally deemed of minor value for bat foraging, such as cliffs, may become important. We conducted an acoustic survey of bats in Capri ( SW Italy), comparing their use of Mediterranean shrubland and limestone cliffs. We found that cliffs provided the preferred foraging habitat in four of the five species tested. Noticeably, even the barbastelle bat Barbastella barbastellus, normally considered a forest specialist, selected coastal cliffs as foraging habitat. Our observations indicate that the paucity of foraging habitats on islands may strongly alter the habitat use by bats. This has important implications for conservation of bats in insular environments.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2014
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
103-108
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Acta Chiropterologica
Volym
16
Issue
1
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Nyckelord
- Barbastella barbastellus
- bat conservation
- habitat selection
- island
- ecology
- Mediterranean
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1508-1109