List of farmland bird species recorded in four habitat types

List of farmland bird species recorded in four habitat types (animal farmsteads, plant farmsteads, abandoned farmsteads and farmland). Sum of maximal numbers of recorded individuals during spring and winter period are shown. Red-listed birds are marked with red colour

CCA showing distribution of bird species among studied habitat types

Canonical correspondence analysis plots showing distribution of bird species among studied habitat types in spring (left plot) and winter (right plot). Red-listed birds are marked with red colour

Wet grassland birds in Sweden

Wet grassland birds in Swede

Expected cumulative number of bat species as a function of sampling effort: number of sampled individuals (upper panel) and number of caves controlled in one season (lower panel).

<p>Expected cumulative number of bat species as a function of sampling effort: number of sampled individuals (upper panel) and number of caves controlled in one season (lower panel).</p

Cluster analysis of bat assemblages wintering in 33 caves in the Polish Carpathians.

<p>Four groups were distinguished and marked in different colours; the altitudinal position of openings of caves is projected on the slope and expressed with a boxplot. Four main vegetation zones are drawn on the left slope.</p

Number of hibernating bats in caves in the Polish Carpathians.

<p>Number of surveys (winter censuses) is given in parentheses.</p

Nonlinear Distribution Pattern of Hibernating Bats in Caves along an Elevational Gradient in Mountain (Carpathians, Southern Poland)

<div><p>Background</p><p>Thermal gradients along changes in elevation in mountainous environments are reflected by different biotas. Although there have been studies of elevation variation in bat assemblages in summer, winter changes in the same gradients remain unknown.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>The objective of this study was to document changes in the species composition of bats hibernating in caves along a temperate elevational gradient. We studied 70 caves between from 300 m to 1,930 m altitude along a slope of the Carpathian Mountains in southern Poland. We recorded changes in bats, including species richness, abundance, altitudinal distribution and dominance during consecutive winters between 2003 and 2009. Similarity of dominance of faunal structure was assessed by using the Bray-Curtis similarity index. We used the generalised additive model and rarefaction to study the variation in species richness, and generalized additive mixed models to examine the effect of abiotic factors on the qualitative and quantitative structure of bat assemblages. During 351 surveys we recorded 13,856 hibernating bats from 15 species. Species richness peaked around mid-elevation (1,100–1,400 m a.s.l.) with richness declining at both higher and lower elevations. Based on the results of a cluster analysis, we could distinguish among four altitudinal zones that differed in species richness and dominance structure.</p><p>Conclusions/Significance</p><p>This is the first study documenting changes in species richness and variation of structure of bats hibernating in caves along an elevational gradient. The most surprising and key finding is the fact that changes in the structure of assemblages of hibernating bats along the altitudinal gradient occurred in jumps, forming zones similar to those observed in the vegetation zones. Moreover, species richness and dominance structure of assemblages of hibernating bats in the mountains depended not only on location above sea level, but also on local geomorphologic conditions which strongly affected the microclimate of the caves.</p></div

Spline fit (solid line) with 95% confidence interval (dashed lines) of the variability in the species richness of bat assemblages wintering in 70 caves in the Polish Carpathians as a function of elevation (GAM: species richness∼intercept+s(elevation)).

<p>In the inner subplot empirical (solid line and black squares, number of recorded species on each 100-m vertical bands) and interpolated (dashed line and open circles, species was recorded at range between the highest and the lowest records) species richness are presented.</p

Summary of generalised additive mixed models (GAMM) explaining the number of bat individuals and the number of bat species in 30 caves in the Polish Carpathians between 2003 and 2009 on the basis of microclimate (average temperature, its amplitude and humidity), elevation and type of cave (karstic vs non-karstic) and vegetation type (deciduous forest, mixed forest, coniferous forest, open).

<p>In the examined models, the season was included as a random categorical factor but its effect is not presented.</p

Distribution pattern of bats wintering in caves in the Polish Carpathians along the elevation gradient expressed with kernel density estimators and boxplots.

<p>Total abundance of each species is given below its abbreviated name: Mema – <i>Myotis emarginatus</i>, Rhip – <i>Rhinolophus hipposideros</i>, Mbra – <i>M. brandtii</i>, Mmyo – <i>M. myotis</i>, Eser – <i>Eptesicus serotinus</i>, Mbech – <i>M. bechsteinii</i>, Mnat – <i>M. nattereri</i>, Mdau – <i>M. daubentonii</i>, Paur – <i>Plecotus auritus</i>, Mmys s.l. – <i>M. mystacinus</i> sensu lato, Enil – <i>E. nilssonii</i>, Mmys s.s. – <i>M. mystacinus</i> sensu stricto, Malc – <i>M. alcathoe</i>, Bbar – <i>Barbastella barbastellus</i>, Mdas – <i>M. dasycneme</i>, Paus – <i>P. austriacus</i>.</p