Sennblad, Adina
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Roads have several negative ecological effects on bats. Clutter-adapted bat species avoid roads as the open space increases the risk of predation. This results in the road acting as a barrier of movement, making otherwise suitable habitat inaccessible. Different approaches to mitigate the fragmentation and mortality caused by roads have been explored. Underpasses such as bridges or tunnels have proven to be used by clutter-adapted species to cross the road. A few studies have indicated that some species of bats could possibly use smaller structures such as pipe culverts. As pipe culverts are more cost-effective than bridges and tunnels, we set out to quantitively investigate what factors affect the usage of pipe culverts, aiming to produce recommendations for their implementation in the landscape. Clutter-adapted bats were surveyed with ultrasound detectors in 269 pipe culverts in Sweden. Each pipe culvert was surveyed for one night each and 73 pipe culverts with a high recorded activity were revisited and surveyed with mist nets. M. brandtii, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus, M. nattereri, and P. auritus were found to be flying in the pipe culverts. Factors affecting the activity and usage of the pipe culverts were the width of the pipe culverts, presence of water in the pipe culvert and the presence of forest at the openings of the pipe culvert. The results give insight into how pipe culverts could be designed and implemented in landscape planning to mitigate the fragmentation caused by roads and decrease their negative effects on clutter-adapted bats.
Keywords
Bats and infrastructure; Road ecology; Bat connectivity; Landscape planning for bats
Published in
Landscape and Urban Planning
2026, volume: 268, article number: 105553
Publisher: ELSEVIER
SLU Authors
Honnér, Isabella
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
de Jong, Johnny
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Landscape Architecture
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105553
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/145643