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Coarse-scale online data reveals habitat similarities but weak cross-taxa congruence between insectivorous bats and birds in the eastern U.S.

Drake, Evan1; Maslo, Brooke2

Published Jul 08, 2025 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zcrjdfnn6

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Jul 08, 2025 version files 29.36 KB

Abstract

Prudent use of cross-taxa congruence can aid biodiversity conservation by quantitatively evaluating possible indicator taxa. However, highly variable results among spatial extents and study regions present challenges to its practical application. We aim to evaluate insectivorous birds as possible surrogate taxa for bats. Bats are cryptic, understudied, and imperiled animals that may greatly benefit from conservation actions targeted at more easily observable surrogate taxa, should strong congruence exist. We used six years of data from eBird and the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) to explore cross-taxa congruence and broad-scale habitat associations between insectivorous birds and bats in eastern North America. We used spatial linear models to evaluate cross-taxa congruence and community responses to coarse-scale habitat features. Our results indicated weak positive congruence for the species richness of bats and birds. We revealed similarly strong community responses to forest structure. Birds were more responsive to the distribution of forested habitats in the landscape and forest type. Additional principal component analysis revealed a high overlap between cavity-nesting birds and snag-roosting bats. Our results discourage the general use of birds as surrogates for bats in eastern and northern temperate forests. Our eclectically sourced dataset yielded habitat associations that align well with known trends in bat and bird biodiversity, which suggests the potential utility of mass-aggregated online resources for answering broad-scale ecological questions.