Effects of clear-fell harvest on bat home range

We investigated effects of roost loss due to clear-fell harvest on bat home range. The study took place in plantation forest, inhabited by the New Zealand long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus), in which trees are harvested between the ages 26-32 years. We determined home ranges by radiotracking different bats in areas that had and had not been recently clear-fell harvested. Home ranges were smaller in areas that had been harvested. Adult male bats selected 20-25 year old stands within home ranges before and after harvest. Males selected edges with open unplanted areas when harvest had not occurred but no longer selected these at proportions greater than their availability post harvest, probably because they were then readily available. This is the first radiotracking study to demonstrate a change in home range size and selection concomitant with felling of large areas of plantation forest, and thus quantify negative effects of forestry operations on this speciose group. The use of smaller home ranges post-harvest may reflect smaller colony sizes and lower roost availability, both of which may increase isolation of colonies and vulnerability to local extinction

Extensive und jährlich wechselnde Nutzungsintensität fördert den Artenreichtum im Grünland

Among the processes currently eroding biodiversity, land-use intensification is one of the most important. Using data from 150 grasslands, in three regions of Germany, we therefore tested for effects of land-use intensity and inter-annual variation in land-use intensity on biodiversity. To measure whole ecosystem biodiversity, we introduce a new metric of multidiversity, which incorporates the diversities of up to 49 taxonomic groups of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. Multidiversity declined with increasing land-use intensity, particularly for rarer species and aboveground groups, while common species and belowground species were less sensitive. However, high levels of inter-annual variation in land-use intensity increased overall multidiversity and slowed the rate at which the multidiversity of rarer species declined with increasing land-use intensity. In addition to decreasing mean land-use intensity, we suggest that varying land-use intensity across years, in particular varying grazing intensity over time, could be a novel strategy to reduce local biodiversity loss

A quantitative index of land-use intensity in grasslands: Integrating mowing, grazing and fertilization

Abstract not availableNico Blüthgen, Carsten F. Dormann, Daniel Prati, Valentin H. Klaus, Till Kleinebecker, Norbert Hölzel, Fabian Alt, Steffen Boch, Sonja Gockel, Andreas Hemp, Jörg Müller, Jens Nieschulze, Swen C. Renner, Ingo Schöning, Uta Schumacher, Stephanie A. Socher, Konstans Wells, Klaus Birkhofer, François Buscot, l, Yvonne Oelmann, Christoph Rothenwöhrer, Christoph Scherber, Teja Tscharntke, Christiane N. Weiner, Markus Fischer, Elisabeth K.V. Kalko, Karl Eduard Linsenmai