Action

Action Synopsis: Bat Conservation About Actions

Restore or create grassland

How is the evidence assessed?

Study locations

Key messages

  • One study evaluated the effects of creating grassland on bat populations. The study was in the UK.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE (0 STUDIES)

POPULATION RESPONSE (1 STUDY)

  • Abundance (1 study): One replicated, paired sites study in the UK found that pipistrelle activity (relative abundance) did not differ between species-rich grassland created on agri-environment scheme farms and improved pasture or crop fields on conventional farms.

BEHAVIOUR (0 STUDIES)

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated, paired sites study in 2008 on 16 pairs of farms in Scotland, UK (Fuentes-Montemayor et al 2011) found that grassland created on agri-environment scheme farms had similar activity of Pipistrellus species as improved pasture or crop fields on conventional farms. The activity of common pipistrelles Pipistrellus pipistrellus and soprano pipistrelles Pipistrellus pygmaeus was similar over species-rich grassland on agri-environment farms and improved pasture or crop fields on conventional farms (data reported as statistical model results). On agri-environment scheme farms, pasture or crop fields had been converted to grassland by sowing with a low productivity grass and herb mix and restricting fertiliser, pesticides, mowing and grazing. Each of 16 species-rich grasslands on agri-environment scheme farms were paired with 16 pastures or crop fields on conventional farms with similar farming activities and surrounding habitats. Each of 16 pairs of farms was sampled once on the same night in June–September 2008. At each of 32 sites, bat activity was recorded continuously from 45 minutes after sunset using bat detectors along transects 2.5–3.7 km in length.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Berthinussen, A., Richardson O.C. and Altringham J.D. (2021) Bat Conservation: Global Evidence for the Effects of Interventions. Conservation Evidence Series Synopses. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

 

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Bat Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bat Conservation
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What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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