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Modeling the indirect effects of road networks on the foraging activities of bats

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Abstract

Negative impacts of road networks on wildlife are of global concern. While direct mortality of wildlife via roads has been well-documented, we know little about indirect effects of roads. Using a simulation model parameterized from empirical data, we explored how roads in proximity to maternity roosts influenced foraging activities of the endangered Indiana bat. First, we conducted manipulated landscape simulations to identify characteristics (such as traffic volume, foraging habitat availability, etc.) that influenced landscape permeability. We used a classification and regression tree procedure to assess which landscape and road-related variables, alone or in combination, influenced bat movement. We determined that roads did act as filters (>10 vehicles/5 min) or barriers (>200 vehicles/5 min) to movement. However, it is a combination of the proportion of foraging habitat accessible without crossing a road, and roost-to-road distance that dictated whether the barrier and filter effects of roads hindered the bats’ foraging abilities. We then simulated movement patterns and foraging success of Indiana bats at 32 existing maternity roosts to identify conditions under which colonies currently persist. We established a foraging success threshold, above which Indiana bats currently persist. The value represents the time virtual bats spend in foraging habitat during the simulation period. Finally, simulations from these landscapes around known maternity roosts demonstrate that the road network and landscape configuration are critical to foraging success. This modeling approach and threshold value are beneficial to road developers and represent an invaluable tool in the ecological design of transportation infrastructures.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Arthur Zurcher and Molly Maguire at Indiana State University for collecting data on the responses of bats to road traffic; Dr. Virgil Brack and the team at Environmental Solutions and Innovations, Inc for providing Indiana bat maternity roost locations; Andrew King (USFWS), Dr. Joe Duchamp, Dr. Inaki Rodriguez Prieto and Diana Raper for providing feedback on manuscript drafts and Ben Pauli for providing a movement analysis program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, 76129, USA

    Victoria J. Bennett

  2. Environmental Solutions and Innovations, Inc, 4525 Este Ave, Cincinnati, OH, 45232, USA

    Dale W. Sparks

  3. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47906, USA

    Patrick A. Zollner

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  1. Victoria J. Bennett
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  2. Dale W. Sparks
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Correspondence to Victoria J. Bennett.

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Bennett, V.J., Sparks, D.W. & Zollner, P.A. Modeling the indirect effects of road networks on the foraging activities of bats. Landscape Ecol 28, 979–991 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-013-9874-0

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