The creation of new artificial lakes as a mitigation measure for bats

Ralf Gyselings; Geert Spanoghe; Erika Van den Bergh

The creation of new artificial lakes as a mitigation measure for bats

Ralf Gyselings, Geert Spanoghe, Erika Van den Bergh

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review

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Abstract

The border of the Antwerp harbour, lying in a Natura 2000 area, contains several artifi cial lakes that are important for many species protected under the habitat and birds directive, including birds, Natterjack toad and bats. A previous study
indicated that the activity and the species diversity of foraging bats at these lakes are high compared to other regions in the neighbourhood. The harbour is in full expansion and some important lakes are planned to disappear. However, as a compensation for birds, new big lakes have been created recently. We examined the use of these new lakes by bats by counting bat passes with bat detectors. After two years all species of bats used the new lakes. Activity, however, depended on the landscape context. A new lake that was poorly connected to existing network of lakes, canals and tree rows showed lower activity than a well connected one. The activity over the well connected lake was comparable
with the activity over an important old lake. We concluded that creation of new artifi cial lakes can effectively and fast act as a mitigation measure for bats, provided they are well embedded in the network of landscape elements that bats
use for commuting.

Original language	English
Number of pages	1
Publication status	Published - 2009

Thematic list

Species and biotopes

Taxonomic list

bats (Chiroptera)

Policy

Habitats Directive

Geographic list

Port of Antwerp

Access to Document

Gyselings_etal_2009_CreationNewArtificialLakesAsMitigationMeasureBatsAccepted author manuscript, 1.03 MB

Cite this

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title = "The creation of new artificial lakes as a mitigation measure for bats",

abstract = "The border of the Antwerp harbour, lying in a Natura 2000 area, contains several artifi cial lakes that are important for many species protected under the habitat and birds directive, including birds, Natterjack toad and bats. A previous study indicated that the activity and the species diversity of foraging bats at these lakes are high compared to other regions in the neighbourhood. The harbour is in full expansion and some important lakes are planned to disappear. However, as a compensation for birds, new big lakes have been created recently. We examined the use of these new lakes by bats by counting bat passes with bat detectors. After two years all species of bats used the new lakes. Activity, however, depended on the landscape context. A new lake that was poorly connected to existing network of lakes, canals and tree rows showed lower activity than a well connected one. The activity over the well connected lake was comparable with the activity over an important old lake. We concluded that creation of new artifi cial lakes can effectively and fast act as a mitigation measure for bats, provided they are well embedded in the network of landscape elements that bats use for commuting.",

author = "Ralf Gyselings and Geert Spanoghe and {Van den Bergh}, Erika",

year = "2009",

language = "English",

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TY - CONF

T1 - The creation of new artificial lakes as a mitigation measure for bats

AU - Gyselings, Ralf

AU - Spanoghe, Geert

AU - Van den Bergh, Erika

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - The border of the Antwerp harbour, lying in a Natura 2000 area, contains several artifi cial lakes that are important for many species protected under the habitat and birds directive, including birds, Natterjack toad and bats. A previous study indicated that the activity and the species diversity of foraging bats at these lakes are high compared to other regions in the neighbourhood. The harbour is in full expansion and some important lakes are planned to disappear. However, as a compensation for birds, new big lakes have been created recently. We examined the use of these new lakes by bats by counting bat passes with bat detectors. After two years all species of bats used the new lakes. Activity, however, depended on the landscape context. A new lake that was poorly connected to existing network of lakes, canals and tree rows showed lower activity than a well connected one. The activity over the well connected lake was comparable with the activity over an important old lake. We concluded that creation of new artifi cial lakes can effectively and fast act as a mitigation measure for bats, provided they are well embedded in the network of landscape elements that bats use for commuting.

AB - The border of the Antwerp harbour, lying in a Natura 2000 area, contains several artifi cial lakes that are important for many species protected under the habitat and birds directive, including birds, Natterjack toad and bats. A previous study indicated that the activity and the species diversity of foraging bats at these lakes are high compared to other regions in the neighbourhood. The harbour is in full expansion and some important lakes are planned to disappear. However, as a compensation for birds, new big lakes have been created recently. We examined the use of these new lakes by bats by counting bat passes with bat detectors. After two years all species of bats used the new lakes. Activity, however, depended on the landscape context. A new lake that was poorly connected to existing network of lakes, canals and tree rows showed lower activity than a well connected one. The activity over the well connected lake was comparable with the activity over an important old lake. We concluded that creation of new artifi cial lakes can effectively and fast act as a mitigation measure for bats, provided they are well embedded in the network of landscape elements that bats use for commuting.

M3 - Poster

ER -