Operationalizing the telecoupling framework for migratory species using the spatial subsidies approach to examine ecosystem services provided by Mexican free-tailed bats (original) (raw)
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Ecosystem Services from Transborder Migratory Species: Implications for Conservation Governance
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2015
This article discusses the conservation challenges of volant migratory transborder species and conservation governance primarily in North America. Many migratory species provide ecosystem service benefits to society. For example, insectivorous bats prey on crop pests and reduce the need for pesticides; birds and insects pollinate food plants; and birds afford recreational opportunities to hunters and birdwatchers. Migration is driven by the seasonal availability of resources; as resources in one area become seasonally scarce, individuals move to locations where resources have become seasonally abundant. The separation of the annual lifecycle means that species management and governance is often fractured across international borders. Because migratory species depend on habitat in different locations, their ability to provide ecosystem services in one area depends on the spatial subsidies, or support, provided by habitat and ecological processes in other areas. This creates telecoupl...
Telecoupling framework for research on migratory species in the Anthropocene
Elementa - Science of the Anthropocene, 2017
Migratory species are an important component of biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services for humans, but many are threatened and endangered. Numerous studies have been conducted on the biology of migratory species, and there is an increased recognition of the major role of human dimensions in conserving migratory species. However, there is a lack of systematic integration of socioeconomic and environmental factors. Because human activities affect migratory species in multiple places, integrating socioeconomic and environmental factors across space is essential, but challenging. The holistic framework of telecoupling (socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances) has the potential to help meet this challenge because it enables researchers to integrate human and natural interactions across multiple distant places. The use of the telecoupling framework may also lead to new conservation strategies and actions. To demonstrate its potential, we apply the framework to Kirtland’s warblers (Setophaga kirtlandii ), a conservation-reliant migratory songbird. Results show accomplishments from long-term research and recovery efforts on the warbler in the context of the telecoupling framework. The results also show 24 research gaps even though the species has been relatively well-studied compared to many other species. An important gap is a lack of systematic studies on feedbacks among breeding, wintering, and stopover sites, as well as other “spillover” systems that may affect and be affected by migration (e.g., via tourism, land use, or climate change). The framework integrated scattered information and provided useful insights about new research topics and flow-centered management approaches that encapsulate the full annual cycle of migration. We also illustrate the similarities and differences between Kirtland’s warblers and several other migratory species, indicating the applicability of the telecoupling framework to understanding and managing common complexities associated with migratory species in a globalizing world.
Environmental Management, 2018
We estimated U.S. and Mexican citizens' willingness to pay (WTP) for protecting habitat for a transborder migratory species, the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana), using the contingent valuation method. Few contingent valuation surveys have evaluated whether households in one country would pay to protect habitat in another country. This study addresses that gap. In our study, Mexican respondents were asked about their WTP for conservation of Mexican free-tailed bat habitat in Mexico and in the United States. Similarly, U.S. respondents were asked about their WTP for conservation in the United States and in Mexico. U.
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Endangered Species Research, 2009
Translocation is an increasingly popular conservation tool from which a wide range of taxa have benefited. However, to our knowledge, bats have not been translocated successfully. Bats differ behaviourally, morphologically and physiologically from the taxa for which translocation the- ory has been developed, so existing guidelines may not be directly transferable. We review previous translocations of bats and discuss characteristics
Seasonal ecology of a migratory nectar-feeding bat at the edge of its range
Journal of Mammalogy, 99(5):1072–1081, 2018, 2018
Migratory species that cross geopolitical boundaries pose challenges for conservation planning because threats may vary across a species’ range and multi-country collaboration is required to implement conservation action plans. The lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) is a migratory pollinator bat that was removed from the Endangered Species List in the United States in 2018 and from threatened status in Mexico in 2013. The seasonal ecology and conservation status of the species is well understood in the core part of its range on mainland Mexico and in the southwestern United States, but relatively little is known about the species on the Baja California peninsula in northwestern Mexico, a part of its range range separated by the Gulf of California. We studied the seasonal ecology of lesser long-nosed bats on the Baja peninsula at 8 focal roosts along a 450-km north-to-south transect to test hypotheses about migratory or residential status of the species on the Baja peninsula. We provide evidence of an extensive population of lesser long-nosed bats on the Baja peninsula that is primarily seasonally migratory and includes 2 mating roosts with males on the southern part of the peninsula. Seasonal ecology of lesser long-nosed bats was closely associated with the flowering and fruiting season of the cardón (Pachycereus pringlei), the dominant columnar cactus on the peninsula. However, we discovered that some female lesser long-nosed bats arrive and give birth at southern roosts in mid-February, about 2 months earlier than other migratory populations in more northern Sonoran Desert habitats. We documented the loss of nearly a third of the known maternity roosts during the study, demonstrating that action to protect key roosts remains a high priority. Migratory pollinators are particularly vulnerable to climate and land-use changes and we recommend continued monitoring and research to guide effective range-wide conservation of the species.
Biological Conservation, 2015
Habitat loss due to anthropogenic activities is a critical threat to biodiversity. Understanding which factors determine species persistence in degraded environments is essential for conservation management. Here, we investigated how aerial insectivorous bats in the Neotropics, an ecologically important, but understudied group of vertebrates, are affected by deforestation and urbanization. We conducted a standardized acoustic survey in four habitat types in 14 areas across Panama (500 km  260 km), a scale hitherto unprecedented for the Neotropics, and assessed occupancy in 13 aerial insectivorous bat species, accounting for species-and habitat-specific detectability. In addition, we used wing measures to derive a proxy for flight efficiency and flight speed, as an indication of species-specific mobility. Results show that detectability does not only vary strongly among species but also, within a species, depending on the habitat: for nine species intra-specific detectability varied >10%. Model estimates for occupancy revealed that aerial insectivorous bats are highly heterogeneous in their response to deforestation and urbanization. Canopy height and canopy cover predicted occupancy best for most species. Relating occupancy to mobility we found that less mobile species with broad wings (high wing loading and low aspect ratio) decrease occupancy in deforested and urban areas, while more mobile species with narrow wings increase in these habitats. We suggest that this pattern applies also to species not analyzed in this study. Our study exemplifies how morphological information can help define conservation priorities when information on occurrence and distribution is limited.
PLOS ONE
Deforestation is a critical threat to bats. The woolly false vampire bat Chrotopterus auritus is a carnivorous bat that is both an indicator species for well-conserved forests and a threatened species in Mexico and other countries due to deforestation. We currently lack the information needed to assess the effects of forest fragmentation and destruction on their populations and to develop plans for their conservation. We used GPS loggers to study the movement patterns of C. auritus in southern Mexico. We observed 72 foraging nights by GPS-tagging 10 individuals from two colonies on 32 occasions in a highly disturbed heterogeneous landscape with extensive deforestation (Hormiguero), and in a more homogeneous, well-preserved forested landscape (Monterrey). Tracked false vampire bats averaged a home range of 108.24 ha, a core foraging area of 3.78 ha and average maximum flight distances of 2.06 km. The bats ranged farther and flew significantly longer distances in Hormiguero than in Monterrey, with males flying longer and more variable distances. They used the well-preserved semi-deciduous forest more often than secondary forest and agricultural fields for traveling and foraging, but the bats occasionally moved and hunted along the borders of secondary forest and agricultural fields adjacent to semi-deciduous conserved forest areas. Although this carnivorous bat might cope with some fragmentation, we suggest that large well-preserved forested areas are highly important for its conservation.