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Relationship between urbanization and bat community structure in national parks of the southeastern U.S.

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Abstract

Urbanization and development are predicted to increase considerably in the United States over the next several decades, and this is expected to result in large-scale habitat loss, fragmentation and loss of wildlife species. Thus, natural parks and preserves are becomingly increasingly important in the conservation of regional biodiversity. We used mist-nets and AnabatII acoustic detectors to survey bats in 10 national parks in the southeastern U.S. and examined the relationship between bat community structure and development in the surrounding 5 km. We predicted that species richness would increase with park size and that species richness and evenness would decrease with development. Species richness was not related to development or any other landscape characteristics including park size. In contrast, species evenness declined with increasing development. Percent Developed land in the surrounding 5 km area was the only variable that entered into the stepwise regression model. The decrease in species evenness in the urban parks was due to the dominance of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in these parks. The percentage of big brown bats in our captures was positively related to percent Developed land in the surrounding area. Our data suggest that urban parks may be important for conserving regional bat biodiversity. However, the low species evenness in these parks suggests that some bat species may be susceptible to the effects of urbanization and may be extirpated over time. Thus, management of urban as well as rural parks should strive to conserve as much bat roosting and foraging habitat as possible.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by the National Park Service, Southeast Coast Inventory and Monitoring Network and the Cumberland Piedmont Inventory and Monitoring Network. We thank C. A. Dachelet, S. Buranek, J. Fernandez, L. Staples, T. Torongeau, and K. Wolcott for assistance in the field and personnel at all of the parks for logistical support. We thank P. G. R. Jodice, J. M. O’Keefe, D. W. Sparks, S. J. Zarnoch and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript.

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  1. USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Susan C. Loeb

  2. Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    Christopher J. Post & Steven T. Hall

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  1. Susan C. Loeb
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Correspondence to Susan C. Loeb.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Number of juvenile, adult male and adult female bats of each species captured at each of 10 national parks in the southeastern U.S. and the number of adult females that were pregnant, lactating or post-lactating
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Loeb, S.C., Post, C.J. & Hall, S.T. Relationship between urbanization and bat community structure in national parks of the southeastern U.S.. Urban Ecosyst 12, 197–214 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-008-0075-6

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