Following the water? landscape-scale temporal changes in bat spatial distribution in relation to Mediterranean summer drought

Understanding how the spatial distribution of ecological resources shape species’ diversity and abundance in human-modified landscapes is a central theme in conservation biology. However, studies often disregard that such patterns may vary over time, thereby potentially missing critical environmental constraints to species persistence. This may be particularly important in highly mobile species such as bats, which are able to track temporal variations in spatial resource distribution. Here we test the hypothesis that bats in Mediterranean landscapes are strongly affected by the progressive reduction in water availability during the seasonal summer drought. We analysed the effects of landscape composition and structure on bat diversity and activity, during Pregnancy, Lactation and Post-lactation periods, and identified the most influential variables within and across periods. Water bodies showed the strongest positive effect on bats, followed by riparian habitats and areas with steeper (...