Unexpected bat community changes along an urban-rural gradient in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization gradients are increasingly used in ecological studies to discover responses of species communities to different intensities of human-induced habitat transformation. Here, we investigated patterns of bat communities against the background of different urbanization levels using a priori defined urbanization categories based on distance classes (5 km intervals) along a linear transect from the urban core of the city of Berlin westwards into the rural outskirts of the state of Brandenburg. Using linear-mixed effects models, we found that "distance class", as a proxy for urbanization level, is a meaningful and suitable predictor of bat species richness and diversity. We observed an unexpectedly sudden increase in bat species richness and diversity and changes in species-specific ac

SUBMITTER: Starik N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11078944 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature