Landscape and site features influencing microbat activity and species richness in open green spaces in urban Melbourne

Australian cities are becoming increasingly urbanised, posing new challenges for wildlife in these areas. Recent research suggests that urban parks, though highly modified, may be important refuges allowing certain species to persist. Microbats are known to inhabit urban landscapes, but previous research has often focused on their use of remnant habitat patches, and their use of highly modified open spaces is not widely understood. We acoustically surveyed for microbats at 35 sites across greater Melbourne, to determine whether they are utilising open green spaces such as parks and ovals, and identify any influential landscape factors. Across 557 detector nights, we recorded 10 of the 16 native species known to occur in Melbourne. We modelled the activity of individual species, total microbat activity, and species richness, against landscape and site factors. Activity and species richness were lower in areas with more roads, and greater in areas with more nearby trees and watercourses. Our results confirm that microbats are utilising Melbourne’s open green spaces, and support the importance of these areas, especially when trees and/or watercourses are nearby. We recommend improving connectivity between open urban parks, conserving nearby riparian corridors, and situating new parks and sporting facilities in less urbanised, well-vegetated areas.