Separating the effects of water quality and urbanization on temperate insectivorous bats at the landscape scale.

ABSTRACT: Many local scale studies have shown that bats respond to water quality degradation or urbanization in a species-specific manner. However, few have separated the effects of urbanization versus water quality degradation on bats, in single city or single watershed case studies. Across North Carolina, USA, we used the standardized North American Bat Monitoring Program mobile transect protocol to survey bat activity in 2015 and 2016 at 41 sites. We collected statewide water quality and urban land cover data to disentangle the effects of urbanization and water quality degradation on bats at the landscape scale. We found that statewide, water quality degradation and urbanization were not correlated. We found that bats responded to water quality degradation and urbanization independently at the la

SUBMITTER: Li H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5756845 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature