Environmental Science
Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 377-383, November, 2016 https://doi.org/10.7747/JFES.2016.32.4.377
Analysis on Habitat Characteristics of the Korean Bats (Chiroptera) Using Geographic Information System (GIS)
Kwang Bae Yoon1,2, Sang Jin Lim2 and Yung Chul Park2,*
1The institute of Forest Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea
2Division of Forest Science, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea
Abstract
We obtained a total of 36 GPS coordinates of the seven bat species of Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Myotis ikonnikovi, M. nattereri, M. petax, Murina ussuriensis, Plecotus auritus, and Pipistrellus abramus. Characteristics of forests (forest type, age class, DBH class and crown density), terrain (aspect, slope and distance from mountain stream) and disturbance factors (distance from human residential areas and distance from cultivated areas) that bats have used as their habitats were revealed from the GIS analysis based on GPS coordinates of the 36 positions that bats were found. The bats-preferred forest type is broad-leaf forests (43%) with the trees of the 2th (31%) and 5th (31%) age class, the trees of sapling (36%) and large DBH class (31%), and sparse crown density (67%). Bats prefer the slop direction of the east (39%), the gradient below 15o (61%), the ranges within 200 m from the mountain streams (92%), the ranges within 200 m near roads (89%), the ranges of 200-400 m from human residential areas (28%), and the ranges within 200 m from cultivated areas (36%).
Key Words: Bat, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae, habitat characteristics, GIS
Received: October 17, 2016. Revised: November 7, 2016. Accepted: November 9, 2016.
Corresponding author: Yung Chul Park
Division of Forest Science, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea Tel: 82-33-2578367, Fax: 82-33-2595617, E-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
Bats are the second largest order of mammals, consist of around 1,200 species, and represent around 20% of all clas- sified mammal species. In South Korea, to date, there are 24 species recognized. Understanding the habitat require- ments of forest bats is critical to bat conservation and ma- nagement. Forest type and structure are important factors determining habitat use of bats (Kalcounis et al. 1999;
Patriquin and Barclay 2003). In general, bats prefer more open stand types, such as recently clear-cut stands or ma- ture forests, rather than stands with greater structural clut- ter, such as those in early and mid-development (Crampton
and Barclay 1998; Jung et al. 1999; Ellis et al. 2002;
Patriquin and Barclay 2003; Loeb and O’Keefe 2006).
Foraging activity of bats is generally greater in gaps and openings within the stand than in intact stand (Law and Chidel 2002; Tibbels and Kurta 2003). Thus, bats prefer the forests with decreased-structural clutter by thinning.
This might indicate that forest types and age classes may al- so be important determinants of bat habitat use, as well as disturbance such as urbanization and cultivation.
In South Korea, although there have been studies on characteristics of the cave habitats for daytime sleeping or overwintering of bats, few studies were conducted in rela- tion to characteristics of forest type and structure, terrain
Table 1. Environmental factors used for GIS analysis of the bat habitats
Category Environmental factors Data Source
Terrain Slope DEM (digital elevation model) NASA
Aspect
Distance from mountain stream Stream order map WAMIS
Forests Forest type 5th digital forest type map Korea forest service
Age class DBH class Crown density
Disturbance factors Distance from human residential areas Land cover map Ministry of environment (Korea) Distance from cultivated areas
We detected geographical distribution of the Korean bats using the net capture and ultrasound bat detector during the periods of 2013 to 2015 in Odaesan National Park (ONP). For GIS analysis, nine environmental factors to have potentially important effects on habitat use and se- lection of bats were selected as the follows: forest type, age-class, DBH (diameter at breast height) class, crown density, slope (o), aspect, distance from mountain stream (m), distance from road (m), distance from human resi- dential areas (m), and distance from cultivated areas (m) (Table 1) (Lee and Song 2008; Seo et al. 2008; NPRI 2011; Kwon et al. 2012; Song and Kim 2012; Lim et al.
2015a, 2015b). The nine environmental factors were classi- fied into three categories of forests (forest type, age class, DBH class and crown density), terrain (aspect, slope and distance from mountain stream), and disturbance (distance from road, distance from human residential areas and dis- tance from cultivated areas) (Table 1).
Layers of the nine environmental factors and geographical distribution of bats were produced and overlapped. Layers of the forests were produced according to the 5th digital forest type map provided by Korean Forest Service. All the layers were analyzed by every 200m. Type and structure of
During the bat survey in ONP, we obtained a total of 36 GPS coordinates of the seven bat species of Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Myotis ikonnikovi, M. nattereri, M. pe- tax, Murina ussuriensis, Plecotus auritus, and Pipistrellus abramus (Fig. 1). Characteristics of forests (forest type, age class, DBH class and crown density) that bats have used as their habitats were revealed from the GIS analysis based on GPS coordinates of the 36 positions that bats were found.
According to the GIS analysis of the ONP forest type, broad-leaf forests are most common forest type in ONP and occupy 70% of ONP (Fig. 2A). As expected, the high- est appearance of bats were also observed in broad-leaf for- ests, which account for 43% of total appearance of bats, and then followed by coniferous forests (16%), non-forest areas (11%) and mixed forests (8%) (Fig. 2A). Compared to coniferous forests, broad-leaf forests have various colonies of insects which are foods for forest bats. Thus, the bat pref- erence to the broad-leaf forests would be due to abundant inset foods during foraging active periods of bats.
Although the forests with trees of the 4th (32%) to 6th (26%) age class, with the forests with trees of the 5th (35%) age class as most abundant trees, are more abundant in ONP, bats were more found in the forests with trees of the 1th to 5th age class (8-31%), with the highest appearance in
Fig. 1. Geographical distribution of the 36 GPS coordinates of the seven bat species (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, Myotis ikon- nikovi, M. nattereri, M. petax, Murina ussuriensis, Plecotus au- ritus and Pipistrellus abramus) used for the GIS analysis in this study.
Fig. 2. Comparison between forest type (A), age class (B), DBH (diameter at breast height) class (C) and crown density (D) of Odae National Park and those of the areas where bats were observed at Odae National Park. CHR and ONP indicate the order Chiroptera (bats) and the Odae National Park, respectively.
the forests with trees of the 2nd (31%) and 5th (31%) age class (Fig. 2B). Trees of medium DBH class was most abundant (67%) in the Odaesan National Park, while bats
were more abundant at forests with trees of sapling (36%) and large DBH class (31%), respectively (Fig. 2C). Bats appear to prefer forests with the large DHB class, which
Fig. 3. Comparison between te- rrain factors (aspect and slope) of Odae National Park and those of the areas where the bats were observed at Odae National Park. The GIS analy- sis of the three terrain factors of aspect (A), slop (B) and dis- tance from mountain stream (C) are shown. CHR and ONP indicate the order Chi- roptera (bats) and Odae Nati- onal Park, respectively.
Fig. 4. Habitat use of bats in re- lation to the three disturbances of distance from roads (A), distance from human residential areas (B) and distance from cultivated areas (C).
activity.
As a result of the GIS analysis of the usage character- istics of the terrain such as aspect, the most preferred slop direction was the east (39%), and then followed by the northeast (14%), north and southwest (11%), and southeast (3%) (Fig. 3A). As a result of the analysis of the gradient of the areas where bats were found, it was found that the most preferred gradient was below 15o (61%), and then followed by 25o to 30o and ＞30o (11%) (Fig. 3B).
Mean distance from the bat observation locations to mountain streams was 66.2 m (SD=129.2, range=0.0 m- 660.7 m) and 92% of them were within 200 m from the mountain streams, excluding the 3 locations farther than 300 m from the mountain stream (Fig. 3C). Thus, water system or water source is highly important to bats for hab- itat utilization and for water supply. Most of bats (89%) were found in the ranges within 200 m near roads (Fig.
4A). Appearance of bats was relatively higher in the ranges of 200-400 m (28%) and 600-800 m (22%) from human residential areas (Fig. 4B) and the range within 200 m from cultivated areas (36%), respectively (Fig. 4C).
In conclusion, the bats-preferred forest type is broad-leaf forests with trees of the 2th to 5th age class, sapling and large DBH class, and sparse crown density. Bats prefer the slop direction of the east, the gradient below 15o, the ranges within 200 m from the mountain streams, the ranges within 200 m near roads, the ranges of 200-400 m from human residential areas, and the ranges within 200 m from culti- vated areas.
Acknowledgements
This work was carried out with support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agricultural Science & Technology Development (Project No. PJ0108592016)” Rural Admi- nistration, Republic of Korea.
University for the care and use of animals.
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