Coastal cliffs on islands as foraging habitat for bats
(2014) In Acta Chiropterologica 16(1). p.103-108- Abstract
- 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... (More)
- 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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4655968
- author
- Ancillotto, Leonardo ; Rydell, Jens LU ; Nardone, Valentina and Russo, Danilo
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Barbastella barbastellus, bat conservation, habitat selection, island, ecology, Mediterranean
- in
- Acta Chiropterologica
- volume
- 16
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 103 - 108
- publisher
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000340855000010
- scopus:84906245022
- ISSN
- 1508-1109
- DOI
- 10.3161/150811014X683318
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 02f2c4e4-f380-4dbe-a543-2d4d28e81756 (old id 4655968)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:13:41
- date last changed
- 2022-01-27 18:02:09
@article{02f2c4e4-f380-4dbe-a543-2d4d28e81756,
abstract = {{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.}},
author = {{Ancillotto, Leonardo and Rydell, Jens and Nardone, Valentina and Russo, Danilo}},
issn = {{1508-1109}},
keywords = {{Barbastella barbastellus; bat conservation; habitat selection; island; ecology; Mediterranean}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{103--108}},
publisher = {{Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences}},
series = {{Acta Chiropterologica}},
title = {{Coastal cliffs on islands as foraging habitat for bats}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3161/150811014X683318}},
doi = {{10.3161/150811014X683318}},
volume = {{16}},
year = {{2014}},
}