Modelling connectivity at a regional scale during seasonal movements of the greater horseshoe bat

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Abstract
Context: Connectivity modelling is a powerful tool for strengthening the link between landscape and species conservation. This approach often relies on expert knowledge of connectivity indicators or limited, small numbers and small‐scale monitoring data, for example during animal foraging activities. However, integrating larger scale movement data, including dispersal or seasonal movements, is crucial to making conservation relevant by covering the entire life cycle of species. Approach and methods: Using Resource Selection Function, the movement patterns of greater horseshoe bats (GHB) studied on a local scale were transposed to a regional scale to model the connectivity in western France. GHB is highly sensitive to loss of connectivity and makes seasonal regional migrations. How the local landscape heterogeneity influenced the conductance parameters estimation for modelling was examined using the gap‐crossing method at four different sites with variable landscape composition. The inferred parameters were used to create a regional connectivity map based on circuit theory. To validate this map, acoustic monitoring was conducted during the autumn migration to assess its effectiveness in identifying connectivity gradients. Finally, the resulting connectivity map was superimposed on the Natura 2000 network. Results: First, it can be assumed that connectivity parameters are identical whatever the landscape context. Second, the regional connectivity model identified the main potential corridors connecting all the major sites in the region. Finally, based on acoustic sampling, the number of GHB in transit was significantly higher in areas of higher connectivity. In terms of overlap with conservation, the functional connectivity of the GHB has been variously addressed in the current Natura 2000 network, with an overall lack of representativeness. Policy implications: Studying pathways during high mobility periods is one of the main missing elements for effective conservation, particularly for small species such as bats. An acoustic, stratified sampling at both local and large scale provided sufficient spatial and temporal accuracy to model connectivity throughout the life cycle of bats. This framework can easily be applied to other bat species to improve our understanding of connectivity, in order to explicitly integrate this crucial aspect for highly mobile species into the protection network.
Funding Information
  • Laboratoire d'Excellence Ecofect

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