Bats in a changing landscape: Linking occupancy and traits of a diverse montane bat community to fire regime.

ABSTRACT: Wildfires are increasing in incidence and severity across coniferous forests of the western United States, leading to changes in forest structure and wildlife habitats. Knowledge of how species respond to fire-driven habitat changes in these landscapes is limited and generally disconnected from our understanding of adaptations that underpin responses to fire.We aimed to investigate drivers of occupancy of a diverse bat community in a fire-altered landscape, while identifying functional traits that underpinned these relationships.We recorded bats acoustically at 83 sites (n = 249 recording nights) across the Plumas National Forest in the northern Sierra Nevada over 3 summers (2015-2017). We investigated relationships between fire regime, physiographic variables, forest structure and

SUBMITTER: Blakey RV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6509396 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature