Do bats seek clean water? A perspective on biodiversity from the Namib Desert

摘要

Water abundance, distribution, and quality are key elements affecting species distributions in arid environments, yet how their interactions structure specific animal communities is often unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we examined relationships between bodies of water and bat communities in the northern Namib Desert. We predicted that water quality would be poorer (i.e., higher indices of electrical conductivity and ion concentrations) during the dry season and a artificial pools, and that bat species richness and activity would consequently be lower a these sites. We conducted extensive fieldwork a the terminus of the hot, dry season from November 2016 to January 2017 and a the conclusion of the following we season from March to May 2017, collecting water samples and acoustic recordings of bat activity a both natural springs (n = 18) and artificial pools (n = 5). Overall activity (but not species richness) was greater during the we season and at artificial pools, but we did not find systematic differences in water quality driven by seasonality or water body type. Although individual artificial pools harbored significantly greater bat activity, > 35% of the species that we recorded were present only at natural springs. While bat species richness was reduced at saline sites, only the activity of the Zulu serotine also related to water quality. In general, water surface area was more often associated with bat activity in the Namib Desert than was water quality.