Road density and forest fragmentation shape bat communities in temperate mosaic landscapes

Road construction is expanding worldwide, exacerbating both direct mortality by road-kills and habitat fragmentation, especially for mobile vertebrates such as bats. Understanding how road density affects bat communities in mosaic landscapes of various compositions and configurations is therefore critical. We acoustically sampled bat communities in 172 landscapes of southern France to: (i) disentangle the relative and interacting effects of road density and forest fragmentation by farmland on the activity of bat communities; (ii) investigate how road density affects different aspects of bat diversity (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic) and species activity according to their life-history traits; and (iii) assess whether road density effects on bats change with the level of forest fragmentation. Forest amount and patchiness were more important than road density for all components of bat diversity, except for functional evenness. Bat diversity peaked in landscapes with intermediate levels of forest fragmentation, while road density had negative effects on functional and phylogenetic diversity. The effect of road density on the activity of R. ferrumequinum, R. hipposideros, N. leisleri and P. pipistrellus was only negative in landscapes with either a low forest amount or a low number of forest patches. By better understanding interactions between forest fragmentation and road density, our study will contribute to a more adequate landscape planning that will improve the resilience of bat communities to both road expansion and forest fragmentation. Moreover, the complex landscape-level interactions between habitat fragmentation and matrix quality on bats advocate for the use of a more holistic view in future fragmentation studies.

Automated summary

This study examined the interactions between road density, forest fragmentation, and bat diversity. The results showed that forest condition and patchiness were more influential than road density on most aspects of bat diversity, except for functional evenness. Bat diversity peaked in landscapes with moderate levels of forest fragmentation, while road density had negative effects on functional and phylogenetic diversity. The study provides insights for landscape planning to enhance the resilience of bat communities to road expansion and forest fragmentation.