How does surface area availability affect water resource use by bats?
Harper, Peyton
Harper, Peyton
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2024-11-29
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Abstract
Urban biodiversity provides essential ecosystem services, but urban areas often lack the resources necessary for wildlife. Water represents an essential resource, but availability and accessibility of water sources vary, particularly between taxa. Bats, for example, swoop down to the water’s surface to drink on the wing and their ability to do this is influenced by the size and shape of the water source. We explored this drinking ability further at six ponds in Fort Worth, Texas using drones to record fundamental and realized surface area, maximum patch size, and longest continuous stretch. We compared these metrics with bat activity recorded in behavioral and acoustic surveys, and found that the latter showed the strongest relationship with drinking activity. On further investigation, we determined that this correlation was driven by clutter on the surface of the water. Our study highlighted that water sources need uninterrupted stretches to represent an accessible water resource.
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Environmental science
Ecology
Conservation biology
Ecology
Conservation biology
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Environmental and Sustainability Sciences