biostudies-literatureHermans CDutch Research Council (NWO)Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Toegepaste en Technische wetenschappen (NWO-TTW)25https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC10131301biostudies-literatureUnknown11(1)<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>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 essentiMovement ecologyCombining acoustic tracking and LiDAR to study bat flight behaviour in three-dimensional space.PMC1013130117077Bartholomeus HKoblitz JCSpoelstra KHermans CStilz PVisser MEfalseCombining acoustic tracking and LiDAR to study bat flight behaviour in three-dimensional space.<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>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 essenti2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Apr2025-04-22T13:05:33.499Z2025-04-06T00:33:20.819ZS-EPMC101313013710123310.1186/s40462-023-00387-0