Browsing by Autor "Luc Lens"

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Consistency and variation in the bat assemblages inhabiting two forest islands within a neotropical savanna in Bolivia
(Cambridge University Press, 2003) Luís F. Aguirre; Luc Lens; Raoul Van Damme; Erik Matthysen
Neotropical bats occupy a large variety of trophic niches, and represent locally abundant, species-rich communities. As such, they are highly suited as a model group for the study of temporal and spatial dynamics of animal communities. However, despite this important research potential, data on the dynamics and turnover rates of Neotropical bat communities are lacking. We here study both aspects for bats inhabiting two natural forests surrounded by savanna in Bolivia. Over a period of 8 y, both bat communities showed high rates of species turnover. As predicted, species relying on fluctuating food resources were more likely to be absent in particular years, whereas species relying on more predictable food supplies were present in all years.
Home range characteristics of the Near Threatened Giant Conebill <i>Oreomanes fraseri</i> in fragmented <i>Polylepis</i> forest
(Cambridge University Press, 2009) Greet De Coster; Erik Matthysen; Jennifer R. A. Cahill; Luc Lens
Summary The Giant Conebill Oreomanes fraseri is a specialist of high Andean Polylepis forest remnants. With the aid of radio-tracking and visual observations, the average 100% minimum convex polygon home range size of seven adult individuals was 7.15 ha. Range size decreased with increasing tree density, and for equal tree densities, it was larger in the study site with larger Polylepis fragments. Home ranges often comprised areas that were largely or entirely devoid of trees. Within home ranges, space use significantly varied with time of day, and this pattern tended to be largely consistent among days. Given the large extent of variation in size and structure already observed in this small sample of home ranges, we suggest that apart from the size, shape, structure and degree of isolation of the remaining forest patches, also their topographic location, and hence sun exposure, may be an important consideration when designing conservation strategies for Giant Conebill.
Patterns of roost use by bats in a neotropical savanna: implications for conservation
(Elsevier BV, 2003) Luís F. Aguirre; Luc Lens; Erik Matthysen