Effects of thinning at different intensities on habitat use by bats in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of forest thinning on diversity and abundance of foraging bats in Bankhead National Forest. Mist-netting and echolocation call recordings were used to assess habitat use by bats in three treatments: light thinned, heavy thinned, and unthinned. Vegetative characteristics and insect abundance were evaluated to determine effects of thinning as they relate to habitat use by bats. No differences in habitat use, structural complexity, or prey abundance were determined between the two thinning intensities. However, when both thinning treatments were combined there was significantly greater bat activity and diversity, less midstory and overstory density, and greater prey abundance in thinned sites compared to unthinned sites. This suggests that thinning improves habitat for forest dwelling bats by decreasing structural complexity and increasing prey abundance, but that the two intensities used in this study were not different enough to influence habitat use.