Vegetated fauna overpass disguises road presence and facilitates permeability for forest microbats in Brisbane, Australia
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Published source details
McGregor M., Matthews K. & Jones D. (2017) Vegetated fauna overpass disguises road presence and facilitates permeability for forest microbats in Brisbane, Australia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 5, 153.
Published source details McGregor M., Matthews K. & Jones D. (2017) Vegetated fauna overpass disguises road presence and facilitates permeability for forest microbats in Brisbane, Australia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 5, 153.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Install overpasses as road/railway crossing structures for bats Action Link |
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Install overpasses as road/railway crossing structures for bats
A site comparison study in 2014–2015 of one vegetated overpass over a road within a forest reserve in Brisbane, Australia (McGregor et al 2017) found that the overpass had higher bat activity but the same number of bat species as adjoining forest and bushland. More bat passes were recorded on the overpass (average 52 bat passes) than in the adjoining forest (27 bat passes) or bushland (29 bat passes), although no statistical tests were carried out. Nine bat species were recorded on the overpass and in the adjoining forest and bushland (see original paper for data for individual species). The overpass was hourglass shaped (70 m long x 15 m wide at the midpoint and 20 m wide at the ends) and was planted with natural vegetation and mature saplings (70 shrubs and six trees/100 m2). It was built over two dual lanes of a major urban road bisecting forest and bushland. Bat activity was recorded using bat detectors over two consecutive nights/month between December 2014 and July 2015 at two stationary points on the overpass and along eight 75 m transects perpendicular to the road.
(Summarised by: Anna Berthinussen)
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