Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:46:41.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Impact of artificial lights on foraging of insectivorous bats in a Costa Rican cloud forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2018

Tanner M. Frank ,
Whitney C. Gabbert ,
Johel Chaves-Campos  and
Richard K. LaVal
Tanner M. Frank*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, 3740 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Whitney C. Gabbert
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, 1900 Pleasant St., Boulder, CO 80302, USA
Johel Chaves-Campos
Affiliation:
Council on International Educational Exchange, Apdo 43-5655, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Richard K. LaVal
Affiliation:
Council on International Educational Exchange, Apdo 43-5655, Monteverde, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Determining the effects of light pollution on tropical bat communities is important for understanding community assembly rules in urban areas. Studies from temperate regions suggest that, among aerial insectivorous bats, fast-flying species that forage in the open are attracted to artificial lights, whereas slow-flying species that forage in cluttered environments avoid those lights. We measured aerial insectivore responses to light pollution in a tropical cloud forest to test this hypothesis. Bat echolocation was recorded at 20 pairs of light and dark sites in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Foraging activity was higher at artificially lighted sites than dark sites near the new moon, especially around blue-white fluorescent lighting. Most recorded bat species showed increased or unchanged activity in response to light, including some slow-flying and edge-foraging bats. This finding suggests that, contrary to the evaluated hypothesis, flight speed and foraging mode are not sufficient to determine bat responses to artificial lights in the tropics. Two bat species showed decreased activity at light sites, and a low species evenness was recorded around lights, particularly fluorescent lights, compared with dark sites. As in the temperate zone, light pollution in the tropics seems to concentrate certain bat species around human-inhabited areas, potentially shifting community structure.

Resumen

Determinar los efectos de la contaminación lumínica en las comunidades de murciélagos es importante para entender las reglas de ensamblaje de comunidades en áreas urbanas. Los estudios de las zonas templadas permiten plantear la hipótesis que los murciélagos insectívoros que vuelan rápidamente y que regularmente se alimentan en áreas abiertas son atraídos a las luces artificiales, mientras que los murciélagos que vuelan lento y que se alimentan en áreas con obstrucciones evitan dichas luces. Medimos la repuesta de los murciélagos insectívoros a la contaminación lumínica en un bosques nuboso tropical para evaluar esta hipótesis. Las ecolocaciones de los murciélagos fueron grabados en 20 pares de sitios con o sin luces alrededor de Monteverde, Costa Rica. La actividad de forrajeo fue mayor en los lugares iluminados artificialmente cerca de la luna nueva y especialmente alrededor de luces fluorescentes blanco-azul. La mayoría de las especies de murciélagos aumentó o no cambió su actividad en la presencia de luces, incluyendo especies que vuelan lento en el sotobosque fueron atraídas a las luces. Este resultado no apoya la hipótesis evaluada, y sugiere que aparte de velocidad y método alimenticio, hay más rasgos funcionales determinando la repuesta de los murciélagos insectívoros a las luces artificiales en el trópico. Los sitios iluminados artificialmente, especialmente con luces fluorescentes, mostraron una distribución menos equitativa en la abundancia de especies con respecto a sitios oscuros, y dos especies de murciélagos mostraron actividad disminuida en sitios iluminados. Al igual que en zonas templadas, la contaminación lumínica en el trópico parece concentrar solo algunas especies de murciélagos alrededor de las áreas habitadas por humanos, potencialmente cambiando la estructura de la comunidad.

Keywords

Chiropteracloud forestCosta Ricalight pollution
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 8 - 17
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature cited

Aronson, MF, Nilon, CH, Lepczyk, CA, Parker, TS, Warren, PS, Cilliers, SS, Goddard, MA, Hahs, AK, Herzog, C, Katti, M and La Sorte, FA (2016) Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools. Ecology 97, 2952–2963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Azam, C, Le Viol, I, Bas, Y, Zissis, G, Vernet, A, Julien, JF and Kerbiriou, C (2018) Evidence for distance and illuminance thresholds in the effects of artificial lighting on bat activity. Landscape and Urban Planning 175, 123–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baird, AB, Braun, JK, Mares, MA, Morales, JC, Patton, JC, Tran, CQ and Bickham, JW (2015) Molecular systematic revision of tree bats (Lasiurini): doubling the native mammals of the Hawaiian Islands. Journal of Mammalogy 96, 1255–1274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, JH (1968) Activity patterns of some neotropical bats. Journal of Mammalogy 49, 754–757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, KL, Lawton, RO, Butler, PR and Wheelwright, NT (2000) The physical environment. In Nadkarni, NM (ed.), Monteverde: Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 15–39.Google Scholar
Crawley, MJ (2007) The R Book. (First edition). Chichester: Wiley, 950 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denzinger, A, Tschapka, M and Schnitzler, HU (2018) The role of echolocation strategies for niche differentiation in bats. Canadian Journal of Zoology 96, 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenbeis, G (2006) Artificial night lighting and insects: attraction of insects to streetlamps in a rural setting in Germany. In Rich, C and Longcore, T (ed.), Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting. Washington, DC: Island Press, pp. 191–198.Google Scholar
Garrigues, R and Dean, R (2014) The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide. (Second edition). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 416 pp.Google Scholar
Gaston, KJ, Bennie, J, Davies, TW and Hopkins, J (2013) The ecological impacts of nighttime light pollution: a mechanistic appraisal. Biological Reviews 88, 912–927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hayward, B and Davis, R (1964) Flight speeds in western bats. Journal of Mammalogy 45, 236–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, HL, Sánchez-Hernández, C, Romero-Almaraz, MDL, Gilley, LM, Schnell, GD and Kennedy, ML (2003) Flight speeds of four species of Neotropical bats. The Southwestern Naturalist 48, 711–714.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jung, K and Kalko, EKV (2010) Where forest meets urbanization: foraging plasticity of aerial insectivorous bats in an anthropogenically altered environment. Journal of Mammalogy 91, 144–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahle, D and Wickham, H (2013) ggmap: Spatial Visualization with ggplot2. The R Journal 5, 144–161.Google Scholar
Kuijper, DPJ, Schut, J, Van Dullemen, D, Toorman, H, Goossens, N, Ouwehand, J and Limpens, HJGA (2008) Experimental evidence of light disturbance along the commuting routes of pond bats (Myotis dasycneme). Lutra 51, 37–49.Google Scholar
LaVal, RK (1970) Banding returns and activity periods of some Costa Rican bats. The Southwestern Naturalist 15, 1–10.Google Scholar
LaVal, RK (2004) Impact of global warming and locally changing climate on tropical cloud forest bats. Journal of Mammalogy 85, 237–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaVal, RK and Fitch, HS (1977) Structure, movements and reproduction in three Costa Rican bat communities. Occasional papers of the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas 69, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laval, RK and Rodríguez-H, B (2002) Costa Rica Bats. Santo Domingo de Heredia: INBio, 320 pp.Google Scholar
Lewanzik, D (2017) Artificial Light Affects Bats Across Climatic Zones and Feeding Guilds. Doctoral dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.Google Scholar
Lewanzik, D and Voigt, CC (2017) Transition from conventional to light-emitting diode street lighting changes activity of urban bats. Journal of Applied Ecology 54, 264–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longcore, T and Rich, C (2004) Ecological light pollution. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2, 191–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantilla-Meluk, H and Muñoz-Garay, J (2014) Biogeography and taxonomic status of Myotis keaysi pilosatibialis LaVal 1973 (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Zootaxa 3793, 60–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadkarni, NM and Wheelwright, NT (2000) Introduction. In Nadkarni, NM (ed.), Monteverde: Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical Cloud Forest. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–13.Google Scholar
Polak, T, Korine, C, Yair, S and Holderied, MW (2011) Differential effects of artificial lighting on flight and foraging behaviour of two sympatric bat species in a desert. Journal of Zoology 285, 21–27.Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Herrera, B, Sánchez, R and Pineda, W (2011) First record of Natalus lanatus (Chiroptera: Natalidae) in Costa Rica, and current distribution of Natalus in the country. Ecotropica 17, 113–117.Google Scholar
Rowse, EG, Lewanzik, EL, Stone, S, Harris, H and Jones, G (2016) Dark matters: the effects of artificial lighting on bats. In Voight, CC and Kingston, T (eds), Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World. New York: Springer, pp. 187–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydell, J (1992) Exploitation of insects around streetlamps by bats in Sweden. Functional Ecology 6, 744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos-Moreno, A, Ruiz, E and Martínez, AS (2010) Effect of the intensity of the moonlight and wind speed in the activity of phyllostomid bats of Mena Nizanda, Oaxaca, Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 81, 839–845.Google Scholar
Stone, EL, Jones, G and Harris, S (2009) Street lighting disturbs commuting bats. Current Biology 19, 1123–1127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stone, EL, Harris, S and Jones, G (2015a) Impacts of artificial lighting on bats: a review of challenges and solutions. Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 80, 213–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, EL, Wakefield, A, Harris, S and Jones, G (2015b) The impacts of new street light technologies: experimentally testing the effects on bats of changing from low-pressure sodium to white metal halide. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370, 20140127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, LR (1974) Insect migration, flight periodicity and the boundary layer. Journal of Animal Ecology 43, 225–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Langevelde, F, Ettema, JA, Donners, M, Wallisdevries, MF and Groenendijk, D (2011) Effect of spectral composition of artificial light on the attraction of moths. Biological Conservation 144, 2274–2281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wakefield, A, Broyles, M, Stone, EL, Harris, S and Jones, G (2017) Quantifying the attractiveness of broad-spectrum street lights to aerial nocturnal insects. Journal of Applied Ecology 55, 714–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar