Effects of artificial light and fountain noise on the nocturnal activities of four bat species
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School of Geographic Science, Changchun Normal University, Changchun 130032, China

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Q958

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    Abstract:

    [Objectives] With the intensification of artificial landscape modification in the process of urbanization, the disturbance effects of nocturnal light and noise pollution on nocturnal wild animals are becoming increasingly significant. Bats serve as an ecological indicator taxon relying on acoustic and visual signals, and their activity is extremely sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances. To date, the long-term ecological effects of landscape alterations on bat communities in urban wetland environments have been largely overlooked. [Methods] In this study, we explored the effects of landscape lighting and artificial fountains on the nocturnal activities of Vespertilio sinensis, Hypsugo alaschanicus, Pipistrellus abramus, and Myotis ikonnikovi at a man-made lake in Changchun, China, based on seven years of bat acoustic monitoring. We recorded light illuminance and noise intensity, as well as the number of passes of each bat species. Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed in R 4.4.3 to examine the differences in the number of bat passes between years for each species, followed by Bonferroni multiple comparisons. Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to analyze the differences in bat activity for each species before and after the landscape lights were switched off in 2024, and to assess the significance of differences in noise intensity and light illuminance before and after the remodeling. [Results] (1) After the modification of the fountain and landscape lighting in 2018, the total number of bat passes decreased by 93.1% from 2019 to 2024, and the community structure shifted from being dominated by P. abramus (59.0%) to by H. alaschanicus (73.13%), with significant interspecific differences in response across the four species (Kruskal-Wallis tests, all P < 0.001; Fig. 4). (2) In 2024, after the landscape lights were switched off, the number of passes of P. abramus increased to 14.89 times of that under the working state of the landscape lights, and the number of passes of M. ikonnikovi increased from 0 to a monitorable level (an average value of 0.49). The number of passes of H. alaschanicus and V. sinensis did not change significantly (Fig. 5). [Conclusion] This study indicates that artificial lighting and fountain noise affect bat community structure, and nocturnal bat activity is jointly suppressed by disturbance factors such as light pollution from landscape lights, fountain noise, and surface water turbulence. These findings provide a scientific basis for the conservation of bat diversity in urban wetlands.

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TAN Yuan-Qing, LIU Jin-Yan, YANG Shuang-Hong, MIAO Yu-Jia, ZHU Wen-Ming, GUO Si-Ying, LU Guan-Jun, XU Zhen-Wen. 2026. Effects of artificial light and fountain noise on the nocturnal activities of four bat species. Chinese Journal of Zoology, 61(3): 365-375.

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  • Received:April 20,2025
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  • Online: June 17,2026
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