DIVERSA

Soundscapes

DIVERSA SP5 - The influence of drought stress-induced disturbances on the composition of bird and bat communities in forests

Forest structure is changing as a result of climate change. As highly mobile species, birds and bats respond directly to these changes.

The illustration shows the acoustic recording device used by the sub-project. It is a device called AudioMoth from the company Open Acoustic Devices. The surface of the device is dark green with a metallic sheen and its design with printed circuit symbols for LEDs and batteries makes it look more like the inside of a device. To protect the device, there is a casing, which can also be seen in the picture. The casing is made of hard plastic material and protects the device from the weather. The device was photographed in a forest on a tree trunk overgrown with yellow-green moss.The illustration shows the acoustic recording device used by the sub-project. It is a device called AudioMoth from the company Open Acoustic Devices. The surface of the device is dark green with a metallic sheen and its design with printed circuit symbols for LEDs and batteries makes it look more like the inside of a device. To protect the device, there is a casing, which can also be seen in the picture. The casing is made of hard plastic material and protects the device from the weather. The device was photographed in a forest on a tree trunk overgrown with yellow-green moss.
AudioMoth devices from the company Open Acoustic Devices are used to record the forest soundscape.
© David Singer

The structure of a forest changes when parts of the crown, individual trees or whole stands die as a result of severe drought. In addition to the drastic dying of spruce stands due to dry summers, changes can also be observed in Central European beech and oak forests. The reorganisation of forest ecosystems due to climate change is affecting the distribution and abundance of many animal and plant species. As highly mobile species groups, birds and bats in particular respond directly to changes in forest structure.

To investigate changes in species communities in Central European broadleaved forests, subproject 5 (SP5) will survey bats and birds along a disturbance gradient induced by drought stress. Half of the DIVERSA survey plots are in managed forests, the other half in forests without management interventions. SP5 will use Passive Acoustic Monitoring to record entire forest soundscapes including the vocalisation of birds and bats. Passive Acoustic Monitoring, which has a very high temporal and spatial resolution compared to conventional methods, allows to record not only the occurrence of species, but also their activity patterns over the course of the day and year. The data obtained can be used to assess how local disturbances in deciduous forest ecosystems affect species communities and what changes can be expected at the landscape scale in the future.

Contact person

Moritz BaumeisterMoritz Baumeister
Moritz Baumeister
Northwest German Forest Research Institute, Department Forest Nature Conservation
T0551 69401 485

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