Data from: Male and female bats differ in their use of a large urban park

Understanding how wildlife responds to ever-encroaching urbanization is of
great concern. Bats are the second-most speciose mammalian order and while
many appear to be urban adapted, we currently have a limited understanding
of their demography and habitat use within urban environments. Using a
combination of captures to obtain demographic data, radio-telemetry to
examine foraging and roosting behaviour, and data on diet and prey
availability, we examined how big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), a
synurbic species, use an urban green space (High Park) in Canada?s largest
city centre, Toronto. We found that adult males outnumbered adult females
more than two to one and that males were found throughout the park, while
females were concentrated in an area with greater access to water, but
lower prey availability. We also found that bats of both sexes were in
poorer body condition than reported for other non-urban areas, including a
site within southern Ontario. Our data suggest that High Park may not
provide adequate resources for reproductive females as they were never
found roosting in the park and beetles, their preferred prey, were
limited. Although previous studies suggest urban green spaces may offer
refuge to bats, most have not considered sex-specific responses to
urbanization as they have largely been based on acoustic surveys. Our
study therefore highlights the importance of considering demographic
differences in response to urbanization to better inform urban management
plans and green spaces.