Could bats be a good tool for monitoring highly fragmented and endangered forest habitats?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18118296Keywords:
Habitat fragmentation, bats, ringing-based monitoring, forest bioindicators, Oriental Sweetgum forestsAbstract
Habitat parçalanması, özellikle yerel ve endemik orman habitatları olmak üzere karasal ekosistemler için giderek artan bir endişe kaynağıdır. Parçalanma, ada biyocoğrafyası prensipleri doğrultusunda, küçük ve izole habitatlarda hızla genetik darboğazlara yol açabilir. Yarasalar gibi gösterge türler aracılığıyla bu etkilerin izlenmesi, uzun vadeli koruma planlaması için kritik bilgiler sağlayabilir. Bu çalışma, yarasaların Anadolu Sığlası ( Liquidambar orientalis ) Ormanları'nda parçalanmanın biyoindikatörü olarak uygunluğunu değerlendirdi. Bu ormanlar, şu anda yaklaşık 2.500 hektarı kaplayan, Güneybatı Türkiye ve Rodos Adası'ndaki (Yunanistan) nehir kıyılarıyla sınırlı endemik bir ekosistemdir. Araştırma, Kasım 2022 ile Mayıs 2023 tarihleri arasında Köyceğiz-Dalyan Özel Koruma Alanı'nda (Türkiye) yürütülmüştür. 30 ila 250 hektar arasında değişen on orman parçası, orman büyüklüğü ve parçalanma düzeyine göre dört gruba ayrılmıştır. Bu alanlar arasında eşit olarak dağıtılmış kırk yedi yarasa yuvası iki haftada bir denetlendi. Yarasa varlığı kaydedildi ve bireyler daha ileri izleme için halkalandı. Pipistrellus cinsinin dört türünden toplam 39 birey, yalnızca kışlama döneminde tespit edildi. Halkalanmış yarasaların dağılımı şu şekildeydi: 15'i büyük/çok parçalı alanlarda, 10'u küçük/çok parçalı alanlarda, 14'ü büyük/seyrek parçalı alanlarda ve hiçbiri küçük/seyrek parçalı alanlarda değildi. Tek yönlü ANOVA analizi, parçalanma seviyesinin tünek alanı seçimi üzerinde istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir etkisi olmadığını ortaya koydu. Umut verici ön bulgulara rağmen, kısa çalışma süresi sonuçların güvenilirliğini sınırlamaktadır. Uzun vadeli izleme, yıllık tünek sadakatini, göç modellerini ve çevresel değişkenlere tepkileri değerlendirmek için esastır. İklim verilerini ve alanlar arasındaki habitat yapısı karşılaştırmalarını içeren gelecekteki çalışmalar, habitat parçalanmasının yarasa ekolojisi üzerindeki etkisini açıklığa kavuşturmaya yardımcı olacaktır. Bu çalışmalar, endemik orman ekosistemlerinin ekolojik değerinin daha derinlemesine anlaşılmasına katkıda bulunacak ve daha etkili koruma stratejilerinin oluşturulmasına katkı sağlayacaktır.
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