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Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape

Species‐specific responses to landscape configuration and landscape composition have been studied extensively. However, little work has been done to compare intraspecific differences in habitat preferences. Bats have potential as good bioindicator taxa in woodland habitats. Therefore, studying sex d...

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Autores principales: Fialas, Penelope C., Gilmour, Lia R. V., Vickress, Sophie, Underwood, Emma, Williams, Carol A., Miller, Helen, Lintott, Paul R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9526024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36203639
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9350
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author Fialas, Penelope C.
Gilmour, Lia R. V.
Vickress, Sophie
Underwood, Emma
Williams, Carol A.
Miller, Helen
Lintott, Paul R.
author_facet Fialas, Penelope C.
Gilmour, Lia R. V.
Vickress, Sophie
Underwood, Emma
Williams, Carol A.
Miller, Helen
Lintott, Paul R.
author_sort Fialas, Penelope C.
collection PubMed
description Species‐specific responses to landscape configuration and landscape composition have been studied extensively. However, little work has been done to compare intraspecific differences in habitat preferences. Bats have potential as good bioindicator taxa in woodland habitats. Therefore, studying sex differences in responses to woodland and the wider landscape can allow us to gain insight into the relative importance of these habitats for both bats and other taxa. In this study, we aimed to test the predictions that (i) habitat type and connectivity will influence the probability of recording female bats in woodlands and (ii) sex differences in response to habitat type and connectivity will be species‐specific. Bat capture data was collected in 206 woodlands over 3 years in England. The probability of detecting females relative to males was modeled in response to a range of woodland characteristics and landscape metrics for six bat species. We recorded sex differences in responses to landscape features in three species. We found a higher probability of capturing female Myotis nattereri in woodlands that were surrounded by a higher proportion of improved grasslands, whereas female Myotis mystacinus were less likely to be recorded in woodlands surrounded by semi‐natural vegetation. Female Plecotus auritus were more likely to be recorded in isolated woodlands with less connectivity to other woodlands and where agriculture dominated the surrounding landscape. Our findings indicate that sexual segregation occurs across several UK bat species in response to landscape connectivity and composition. Sexual segregation in response to landscape characteristics in bats should therefore be an important consideration in the management of fragmented agricultural landscapes.
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spelling pubmed-95260242022-10-05 Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape Fialas, Penelope C. Gilmour, Lia R. V. Vickress, Sophie Underwood, Emma Williams, Carol A. Miller, Helen Lintott, Paul R. Ecol Evol Research Articles Species‐specific responses to landscape configuration and landscape composition have been studied extensively. However, little work has been done to compare intraspecific differences in habitat preferences. Bats have potential as good bioindicator taxa in woodland habitats. Therefore, studying sex differences in responses to woodland and the wider landscape can allow us to gain insight into the relative importance of these habitats for both bats and other taxa. In this study, we aimed to test the predictions that (i) habitat type and connectivity will influence the probability of recording female bats in woodlands and (ii) sex differences in response to habitat type and connectivity will be species‐specific. Bat capture data was collected in 206 woodlands over 3 years in England. The probability of detecting females relative to males was modeled in response to a range of woodland characteristics and landscape metrics for six bat species. We recorded sex differences in responses to landscape features in three species. We found a higher probability of capturing female Myotis nattereri in woodlands that were surrounded by a higher proportion of improved grasslands, whereas female Myotis mystacinus were less likely to be recorded in woodlands surrounded by semi‐natural vegetation. Female Plecotus auritus were more likely to be recorded in isolated woodlands with less connectivity to other woodlands and where agriculture dominated the surrounding landscape. Our findings indicate that sexual segregation occurs across several UK bat species in response to landscape connectivity and composition. Sexual segregation in response to landscape characteristics in bats should therefore be an important consideration in the management of fragmented agricultural landscapes. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC9526024/ /pubmed/36203639 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9350 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Fialas, Penelope C.
Gilmour, Lia R. V.
Vickress, Sophie
Underwood, Emma
Williams, Carol A.
Miller, Helen
Lintott, Paul R.
Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title_full Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title_fullStr Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title_full_unstemmed Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title_short Sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
title_sort sexual segregation occurs in bats within fragmented remnant woodlands in an agricultural landscape
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9526024/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36203639
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9350
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