Abstract
The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) is a practical guide to reforesting surface mined lands. Bats, a group of mammals with declining populations, could benefit from mine reforestation. To determine if the FRA can provide suitable bat foraging habitat, we surveyed bat activity at created depressional wetlands on 1-year-old and 8-year-old FRA reforested lands (FRA1; FRA8), wetlands in naturally regenerating forest on traditionally reclaimed mined land (~40 years old; REGEN), and wetlands in mature forest not previously mined (MAT). We passively recorded echolocation calls for 12 nights across 16 sites between June and August 2021. We analyzed bat activity using the number of recordings, pulses, and feeding buzzes in conjunction with nocturnal insect abundance and biomass, microhabitat characteristics, and landscape characteristics via generalized linear mixed effects modeling. Both FRA1 and FRA8 had activity levels similar to MAT. REGEN had significantly greater foraging activity than the other three land classes, possibly due to its distance from roads and proximity to forest edges. Insect abundance and biomass were comparable across sites, indicating FRA practices do not hinder the establishment of a prey base for bats. Overall, bats are utilizing the restored mined land for foraging. Reforestation of mined lands, complemented with wetland creation, provides habitat that could benefit bat species conservation in Appalachia.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 108-122 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Ecological Restoration |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
Funding
We thank Luke Dodd, Mark Ford, and Allison Davis for valuable insight in data collection and analysis. We also thank Millie Hamilton, Jacob Jones and John Barton for field and laboratory assistance. Funding for the project was provided by the U.S. Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement's Applied Science Program (Cooperative/Interagency Agreement Number 041-2020-AR-KY). This work was also partially supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, McIntire-Stennis Research Program (Accession Number 1005547). Student support was provided by the Karri Casner Environmental Sciences Fellowship, the University of Kentucky Appalachian Center and the NSF Graduate Research Traineeship, Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems program under Grant No. 1922694.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative | |
| University of Kentucky Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences | |
| U.S. Department of Agriculture | |
| U.S. Department of Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement's Applied Science Program | 041-2020-AR-KY |
| McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program | 1005547 |
| National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program | 1922694 |
| National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program |
Keywords
- acoustic monitoring
- created wetlands
- legacy mined land
- reforestation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nature and Landscape Conservation
