Browsing by Subject "Chiroptera"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Bat ecology and conservation in semi-arid and arid landscapes: a global systematic review
    (Wiley, 2019-11-22) Jiménez Franco, María V.; Altamirano, Adison; Haz, Ángeles; Calvo, José Francisco; Jones, Gareth; Lisón Gil, Fulgencio; Ecología e Hidrología
    1. Semi-arid and arid landscapes (dry-lands) cover 41% of the Earth’s land surface over five continents. These areas are home to 55% of mammal spe cies. Bats have the second highest species richness among mammals, and, although many species are adapted to arid conditions, they are particularly sensitive in these habitats and require conservation priority.2. Information on bats in arid and semi-arid landscapes is scattered, patchy and focused on small-scale studies; therefore, we undertook a systematic re view using the PRISMA protocol to identify the current knowledge status, detect knowledge gaps and propose future research priorities. 3. We analysed 346 published articles and evaluated 40 topics within five topic categories (taxa studied, methodologies used, biology, ecology and conserva tion). The most commonly studied topic categories were ecology and biology. However, we found a gap in the topic category conservation (including topics such as conservation status and roost conservation). Our network analysis of topics within the categories showed that most ecology papers were focused on distribution, species richness and habitat use. 4. When we analysed keywords, we found that phylogeny, taxonomy and dis tribution demonstrated relatively high presence. Moreover, comparison of the percentage of studies conducted in dry-lands and the percentage of land surface area covered by dry-lands in the continents revealed that dry-lands in Africa and Australia were especially under-represented. Our review shows that knowledge of bats in semi-arid and arid landscapes is biased towards new records of the distribution of species, as well as covering systematic/taxonomic and morphological aspects of bat biology 5. We suggest that research on conservation measures and guidelines to protect the bat species found in semi-arid and arid landscapes should be prioritised, together with the sharing of knowledge with local practitioners and the de velopment of citizen science programmes.
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    Conservation on the blink: Deficient technical reports threaten conservation in the Natura 2000 network
    (Elsevier , 2017-02-10) Altamirano, Adison ; Field, Richard ; Jones, Gareth; Lisón Gil, Fulgencio; Ecología e Hidrología
    Globally, laws define both where protected areas are and their level of protection. Usually, the legal protection is not absolute and alternative land-uses can be implemented if perceived gains outweigh conservation losses. Technical reports, describing the importance of each protected area, are therefore crucial for decision-making, impact assessments, mitigation policies and management plans, and thus effective conservation. While much research has focused on protected areas themselves, including the biodiversity they contain and the impact of illegal activities, almost no research has evaluated the adequacy of the technical reports. Given high levels of data availability, the European Natura 2000 network (N2000) might be expected to represent best practice. Here we compare known bat presences with records from Standard Data Forms (SDFs) of Spanish N2000 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC); the Habitats Directive protects all European bat species. Across 1206 SACs, we found far fewer bat species listed in the SDFs than are known to occur in the SACs they represent, for both Annex II and particularly Annex IV bat species. These findings have serious conservation implications, including that decisions are systematically biased against conservation outcomes: if SDFs greatly underestimate the conservation value of their SACs, development of the land (or sea) is much more likely to be permitted. Incorporating known species presences into the SDFs of SACs is low in cost and straightforward, and can potentially achieve tremendous conservation benefits for minimal outlay; it should therefore be a top conservation priority globally, and conservation scientists should urgently engage with government agencies, accordingly.
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    Fauna quiropterológica del término municipal de Villalgordo del Júcar y sus alrededores (Castilla-La Mancha)
    (Murcia: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia, 2013) Picazo Mota, Félix; Lisón Gil, Fulgencio; Departamento de Ecología e Hidrología
    En este trabajo se aportan 19 nuevas citas (en cuadrículas UTM de 10x10 km) de quirópteros que se suman a las ya incluidas en el Atlas y Libro Rojo de los Mamíferos Terrestres de España del año 2007. Dichas citas han sido obtenidas entre los años 2010 y 2011 en el municipio de Villalgordo de Júcar y sus alrededores, en el norte de la provincia de Albacete y sur de la de Cuenca (Castilla- La Mancha). Se han identificado al menos 12 especies de murciélagos, por lo que estos resultados suponen una importante contribución al conocimiento de la fauna quiropterológica en la comarca de La Mancha de Albacete y Cuenca. Los resultados de este estudio muestran la necesidad de realizar una mayor prospección de este grupo faunístico. Es necesario incrementar el conocimiento de la fauna quiropterológica de Castilla-La Mancha mediante más estudios como el presente para elaborar e implementar medidas de gestión y conservación para este grupo tan amenazado.
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    Low effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in preventing land-use change in bat hotspots
    (Springer, 2017-04-05) Lisón Gil, Fulgencio; Sánchez Fernández, David; Ecología e Hidrología
    One of the most important issues in biodiversity conservation is an exploration of the relationships among protected areas, land-use changes and biodiversity, so we aimed to assess the performance of the Natura 2000 network (N2000) in representing the bat conservation hotspots in peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands and to compare the rates of land-use changes within these hotspots with those observed throughout the rest of the study area. First, we applied a Combined Index that integrates various biodiversity metrics (species richness, rarity and vulnerability) to identify hotspots, and once they were identified, we used null models to assess the performance of N2000 in representing them. Finally, also using null models, we tested whether the changes in land use (“anthropization” or “naturalization”) within the hotspots occurred at a significantly higher or lower frequency than in the rest of the study area; for this, we considered two temporal windows (1980–2006 and 2006–2012) corresponding with periods before and after the official designation of the N2000 sites. Our results show that bat hotspots are effectively represented in the Iberian N2000, but although land-use changes were generally higher in Spain before 2006, hotspots have not experienced lower rates of change compared to the remainder of the territory (regardless of the period under consideration). This suggests low effectiveness of the Iberian N2000 in preventing land-use change in bat hotspots, so to preserve the Iberian bat fauna, we encourage the urgent implementation of management plans to avoid intensive changes in land use both inside and around bat hotspots.
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    Los murciélagos (Mammalia; Chiroptera) de la Región de Murcia (SE España); distribución y estado de conservación
    (Murcia : Universidad de Murcia, Servicio de Publicaciones, 2011) Aledo, Emilio; Calvo Sendín, José Francisco; Lisón Gil, Fulgencio
    Los quirópteros están en claro declive a nivel mundial y las poblaciones murcianas no han sido ajenas a esta tendencia. Entre 2008-2010 se realizó un estudio para conocer la distribución y el estado de sus poblaciones. Con el fin de evitar sesgos en el censo, se emplearon diferentes metodologías. En total se inspeccionaron 98 refugios, se revisaron 60 cajas-nido, se realizaron 193 estaciones de escucha con detectores de ultrasonidos y se llevaron a cabo sesiones de trampeo, lo que permitió la detección de 20 especies y la localización de varios refugios importantes para diversas poblaciones. Con respecto a la información de censos anteriores se han detectado importantes declives poblacionales en algunas especies cavernícolas; además, de graves deficiencias en las fichas técnicas de los LIC. Se propone una actualización de las categorías de conservación según los criterios de UICN para este grupo y se consideran una serie de medidas generales enfocadas a su gestión y conservación.
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    Understanding human attitudes towards bats and the role of information and aesthetics to boost a positive response as a conservation tool
    (Wiley, 2021-04-30) Boso, Álex; Álvarez, Boris ; Pérez, Beatríz ; Imio, Juan Carlos; Altamirano, Adison ; Lisón Gil, Fulgencio; Ecología e Hidrología
    An understanding of human attitudes towards wildlife can be an essential element in the success or failure of a conservation initiative, policy or practice and represents one of the main conservation problems for wildlife species. Despite the ecosystem services bats provide, they often are a socially stigmatized group, misperceived and even hunted. This problem has been on the increase as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We examined how aesthetic appeal and informational factors could influence human attitudes towards bats in a survey of 1966 participants from Spanish-speaking countries. Gender, educational level, religiousness and previous experiences with bats were relevant variables to understand attitudes towards them. The results indicate that both aesthetic and informational stimuli increase the positive responses, reducing the negatives on the participants’ attitudes. Our results show the importance of public attitudes to achieve conservation goals, especially in the context of human-wildlife conflict. Bats are not charismatic animals and are still surrounded in mystery; however, our findings could benefit bat conservation plans, allowing the development of new communication strategies both locally and nationally and increasing public acceptance that will facilitate bat conservation.