Camp site habitat preferences of the little red flying-fox (Pteropus scapulatus) in Queensland
Stewart L. Macdonald
A B , Matthew Bradford C , Adam McKeown D , Eric Vanderduys E , Andrew Hoskins F G and David Westcott C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A CSIRO Land and Water, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
B College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
C CSIRO Land and Water, Atherton, Qld 4883, Australia.
D CSIRO Land and Water, Waite Campus, SA 5064, Australia.
E CSIRO Land and Water, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.
F CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.
G Corresponding author. Email: andrew.hoskins@csiro.au
Australian Journal of Zoology - https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20079
Submitted: 9 September 2020 Accepted: 4 October 2021 Published online: 12 November 2021
Journal Compilation © CSIRO 2021 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND
Abstract
Urban flying-fox camps are a major source of human–wildlife conflict, producing noise, odour, vegetation damage, property damage, and concerns about disease. Although there is a significant demand in many communities for bat camps to be dispersed, there is limited information on how such dispersal can be conducted effectively. Determining the habitat characteristics flying-foxes use when selecting a camp site is key to understanding why they establish camps where they do and to where they might move if dispersed. We characterised little red flying-fox (LRFF) camp habitat at two spatial scales: floristics and vegetation structure at the local scale, and climatic and landscape characteristics at the broad scale. We found weak associations with local-scale tree and shrub height and cover, and stronger associations with increased Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (a measure of ‘greenness’) and decreased distance to nearest watercourse. These relationships were not strong enough to explain all variation in the model, suggesting that there are other factors, such as social cues, that could also influence camp site selection. Our results suggest that minor modifications to existing or proposed camp sites will be unlikely to repel or attract LRFFs, as other factors are likely to play key roles in the formation of camp sites for this species.
Keywords: species-distribution modelling, little red flying-fox, Pteropus scapulatus, roost, camp, habitat preferences.
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