Combining acoustic tracking and LiDAR to study bat flight behaviour in three-dimensional space.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Habitat structure strongly influences niche differentiation, facilitates predator avoidance, and drives species-specific foraging strategies of bats. Vegetation structure is also a strong driver of echolocation call characteristics. The fine-scale assessment of how bats utilise such structures in their natural habitat is instrumental in understanding how habitat composition shapes flight- and acoustic behaviour. However, it is notoriously difficult to study their species-habitat relationship in situ.

Methods

Here, we describe a methodology combining Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to characterise three-dimensional vegetation structure and acoustic tracking to map bat behaviour. This makes it possible to study fine-scale use of habitat by bats, which is essenti

SUBMITTER: Hermans C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10131301 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature