Event Title
Start Date
14-2-2013 2:00 PM
Description
Bats are an imperiled, yet ecologically-important group of vertebrate predators. Our ongoing research focuses on testing hypotheses about the relationships between the effects of fire on canopy structure and insect prey availability, and how these factors relate to use of foraging space by bats during the pre- and post-hibernation periods at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). LiDAR-derived data (October 2010) were intersected with spatially explicit sampling of bat and insect populations (2010-2011) in order to characterize relationships between canopy structure, insect abundance, and bat activity. A canonical correspondence analysis for bat data suggested that forest canopy structure has a strong relationship with bat activity, particularly for species that echolocate at higher frequencies. Less variation was accounted for in a canonical correspondence analysis of insect occurrence. Even so, this analysis still demonstrated that variation in forest canopy structure influences the insect community at MCNP, albeit in varied ways for specific orders of insects.
Recommended Citation
Dodd, Luke E.; Skowronski, Nicholas S.; Dickinson, Matthew B.; Lacki, Michael J.; and Rieske, Lynne K., "Using LiDAR to Link Forest Canopy Structure with Bat Activity and Insect Occurrence: Preliminary Findings" (2013). Mammoth Cave Research Symposia. 13.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/mc_reserch_symp/10th_Research_Symposium_2013/Day_one/13
Included in
Animal Sciences Commons, Forest Sciences Commons, Geology Commons, Hydrology Commons, Other Earth Sciences Commons, Plant Sciences Commons
Using LiDAR to Link Forest Canopy Structure with Bat Activity and Insect Occurrence: Preliminary Findings
Bats are an imperiled, yet ecologically-important group of vertebrate predators. Our ongoing research focuses on testing hypotheses about the relationships between the effects of fire on canopy structure and insect prey availability, and how these factors relate to use of foraging space by bats during the pre- and post-hibernation periods at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). LiDAR-derived data (October 2010) were intersected with spatially explicit sampling of bat and insect populations (2010-2011) in order to characterize relationships between canopy structure, insect abundance, and bat activity. A canonical correspondence analysis for bat data suggested that forest canopy structure has a strong relationship with bat activity, particularly for species that echolocate at higher frequencies. Less variation was accounted for in a canonical correspondence analysis of insect occurrence. Even so, this analysis still demonstrated that variation in forest canopy structure influences the insect community at MCNP, albeit in varied ways for specific orders of insects.