Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.

Urban expansion is a major threat to natural ecosystems but also creates novel opportunities that adaptable species can exploit. The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a threatened, highly mobile species of bat that is increasingly found in human-dominated landscapes, leading to many...

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Autores principales:	Samantha H Yabsley, Jessica Meade, John M Martin, Justin A Welbergen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e54fe2d264894aef86ff21a35c6a7a5e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e54fe2d264894aef86ff21a35c6a7a5e2021-12-02T20:04:37ZHuman-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0259395https://doaj.org/article/e54fe2d264894aef86ff21a35c6a7a5e2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259395https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Urban expansion is a major threat to natural ecosystems but also creates novel opportunities that adaptable species can exploit. The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a threatened, highly mobile species of bat that is increasingly found in human-dominated landscapes, leading to many management and conservation challenges. Flying-fox urbanisation is thought to be a result of diminishing natural foraging habitat or increasing urban food resources, or both. However, little is known about landscape utilisation of flying-foxes in human-modified areas, and how this may differ in natural areas. Here we examine positional data from 98 satellite-tracked P. poliocephalus for up to 5 years in urban and non-urban environments, in relation to vegetation data and published indices of foraging habitat quality. Our findings indicate that human-modified foraging landscapes sustain a large proportion of the P. poliocephalus population year-round. When individuals roosted in non-urban and minor-urban areas, they relied primarily on wet and dry sclerophyll forest, forested wetlands, and rainforest for foraging, and preferentially visited foraging habitat designated as high-quality. However, our results highlight the importance of human-modified foraging habitats throughout the species' range, and particularly for individuals that roosted in major-urban environments. The exact plant species that exist in human-modified habitats are largely undocumented; however, where this information was available, foraging by P. poliocephalus was associated with different dominant plant species depending on whether individuals roosted in 'urban' or 'non-urban' areas. Overall, our results demonstrate clear differences in urban- and non-urban landscape utilisation by foraging P. poliocephalus. However, further research is needed to understand the exact foraging resources used, particularly in human-modified habitats, and hence what attracts flying-foxes to urban areas. Such information could be used to modify the urban foraging landscape, to assist long-term habitat management programs aimed at minimising human-wildlife conflict and maximising resource availability within and outside of urban environments.Samantha H YabsleyJessica MeadeJohn M MartinJustin A WelbergenPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11, p e0259395 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Samantha H Yabsley Jessica Meade John M Martin Justin A Welbergen Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
description	Urban expansion is a major threat to natural ecosystems but also creates novel opportunities that adaptable species can exploit. The grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a threatened, highly mobile species of bat that is increasingly found in human-dominated landscapes, leading to many management and conservation challenges. Flying-fox urbanisation is thought to be a result of diminishing natural foraging habitat or increasing urban food resources, or both. However, little is known about landscape utilisation of flying-foxes in human-modified areas, and how this may differ in natural areas. Here we examine positional data from 98 satellite-tracked P. poliocephalus for up to 5 years in urban and non-urban environments, in relation to vegetation data and published indices of foraging habitat quality. Our findings indicate that human-modified foraging landscapes sustain a large proportion of the P. poliocephalus population year-round. When individuals roosted in non-urban and minor-urban areas, they relied primarily on wet and dry sclerophyll forest, forested wetlands, and rainforest for foraging, and preferentially visited foraging habitat designated as high-quality. However, our results highlight the importance of human-modified foraging habitats throughout the species' range, and particularly for individuals that roosted in major-urban environments. The exact plant species that exist in human-modified habitats are largely undocumented; however, where this information was available, foraging by P. poliocephalus was associated with different dominant plant species depending on whether individuals roosted in 'urban' or 'non-urban' areas. Overall, our results demonstrate clear differences in urban- and non-urban landscape utilisation by foraging P. poliocephalus. However, further research is needed to understand the exact foraging resources used, particularly in human-modified habitats, and hence what attracts flying-foxes to urban areas. Such information could be used to modify the urban foraging landscape, to assist long-term habitat management programs aimed at minimising human-wildlife conflict and maximising resource availability within and outside of urban environments.
format	article
author	Samantha H Yabsley Jessica Meade John M Martin Justin A Welbergen
author_facet	Samantha H Yabsley Jessica Meade John M Martin Justin A Welbergen
author_sort	Samantha H Yabsley
title	Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
title_short	Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
title_full	Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
title_fullStr	Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
title_full_unstemmed	Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.
title_sort	human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: the grey-headed flying-fox.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e54fe2d264894aef86ff21a35c6a7a5e
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Human-modified landscapes provide key foraging areas for a threatened flying mammal: The grey-headed flying-fox.

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