Bats Still Thriving in Logged Rainforests Show Conservation Promise

It may not seem obvious, but even after substantial logging activities, tropical rainforests continue to be centers for biodiversity and could potentially play a role in conservation efforts, according to new research from the University of Kent.

The findings, based on research led by Matthew Struebig and Anthony Turner from the University of Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology (DICE), challenge the long-held notion that there is little, if any, value of heavily logged forests for conservation.

By monitoring bats on Borneo, the researchers were able to learn that despite the habitat being logged more than two times, the bats were still thriving. The researchers report this forest is the first of its kind to have wildlife populations present after substantial and repetitive logging.

"Recent studies have emphasized similar numbers of species living in unlogged and logged sites, but what surprised us was just how resilient some species were, even in sites almost unrecognizable as rainforest." Struebig said.

The findings highlight a new outlook on land that is usually targeted for conversion to agriculture because it is seen to hold little value for timber, carbon or biodiversity.

The researchers could detect a gradual population decline in some bat species on Borneo, but only after viewing the forest sites along a gradient of logging impact from pristine to heavily damaged.

Most vulnerable were bats that tend to live in the cavities of old growth trees.

By linking bat captures with vegetation measurements from nearby plots, the researchers were able to reveal how the bat populations declined as consecutive rounds of logging eroded the forest structure, and crucially, the availability of tree cavities.

Although logging damage was clearly detrimental to some of the species studied, the findings also offer some hope for forest restoration efforts.

"Across the tropics there is increasing investment to restore the timber and wildlife in logged rainforests," Struebig said. "For biodiversity, simple measures, such as setting artificial nest boxes for bats and birds may, if guided by research, help bring some species back to the numbers found in unlogged areas."

The study, titled: "Quantifying the Biodiversity Value of Repeatedly Logged Rainforests: Gradient and Comparative Approaches from Borneo" is published in Advances in Ecological Research