Bat boxes in the England and Ireland have been widely used as a conservation tool since the 1970s to monitor bat populations to inform conservation efforts to halt declines in bat populations and compensate for roost loss. There were a number of important bat box parameters that likely describe bat box occupancy identified from literature including box type, box cluster, box orientation, canopy cover, box height, United Kingdom habitat classification type, understory, distance to water, distance to woodland edge and path included in this study. The literature review concluded that bat box parameters that were likely to significantly affect bat box internal temperature were box orientation, box type, understory, and canopy cover. Although there was insufficient statistical analysis that used Akaike information criterion (AIC) ranking of the linear mixed effect models to confirm this prediction. Therefore, there is a research gap to determine which of these bat box parameters or combinations known as models, best describe bat box occupancy. This study used AIC ranking of linear mixed effects models to confirm if there were bat box models that best describe bat box occupancy rates. The results of this study suggested that bat box occupancy rates of 12 study areas in England and Ireland were substantially supported by percentage canopy coverage for all species. Pipistrelle spp. (Pipistrellus spp.) occupancy of boxes increased with less canopy coverage, while brown long eared (Plecotus auritus) and natterer (Myotis nattereri) bat box occupancy increased with higher canopy coverage. There were less supportive models of box cluster and box cluster + canopy cover for pipistrelle spp. and box cluster for brown long eared, and distance to woodland edge and path for all species of bats. The results demonstrates that pipistrelle spp. have a preference to roosting in bat boxes with lower canopy cover which is likely to have higher sun exposure and higher temperatures for post maternity roosts and raising of young. While brown long eared and natterer bats have a strong preference for roosting in sites within higher canopy cover conditions with stable temperatures. Furthermore, brown long eared and natterer bats are likely to emerge earlier in heavily shaded conditions and have a preference for stable internal temperatures caused by higher canopy. The box cluster model was less supportive model to describe pipistrelle spp. occupancy rates, as male pipistrelle spp. was highly territorial or selective to roosting on a tree with increased number of bat boxes. The distance to woodland path and edge and remaining models were unlikely to predict bat box occupancy. This research project discovered that canopy cover and box cluster for pipistrelle spp. models were important positioning parameters for decisions on bat box deployment to maximise long term summer bat box occupancy. Therefore, the result is crucial for optimising bat box position to successfully monitor bats and compensate bat roost loss from disease or anthropogenic activities.
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Dye, Jonathan
Data Collectors: Shipman, James; Byett, Dave; Linton, Dannielle; Hart, Graham; Hanniffy, Ruth; Mcaney, Kate Rights Holders: Dye, Jonathan Supervisors: Jackson, Michael
Department of Biological and Medical SciencesFaculty of Health and Life Sciences
MSc Conservation Ecology
2022
© Dye, Jonathan Published by Oxford Brookes UniversityAll rights reserved