Vertical stratification of insectivorous bats (Microchiroptera) in harvested forests: assessing the role of structural clutter in shaping patterns of flight activity

............................................................................................................. xv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1. General Introduction .................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview of the management of native vegetation ....................................... 1 1.2 Impacts of logging on forest structure and wildlife habitat ......................... 3 1.3 Wildlife management practices in logged forests in New South Wales ...... 5 1.4 Potential impacts of logging on forest bats .................................................... 7 1.5 Methods of assessing structural clutter effects for bats: benefits and drawbacks ....................................................................................................... 10 1.5.1 Acoustic sampling and trapping ........................................................... 10 1.5.2 Tracking bats ........................................................................................ 11 1.5.3 Experiments .......................................................................................... 13 1.5.4 Multiple approaches to bat-clutter assessment and justification for my methods ................................................................................................. 13 1.6 Some other methodological issues in bat research ...................................... 14 1.7 Project aims .................................................................................................... 15 1.8 Outline of chapters ......................................................................................... 16 1.9 How to read this thesis ................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2. Vegetation structure influences the vertical stratification of openand edge-space aerial foraging bats in harvested forests .............................. 19 2.