Fabio Bontadina

Fabio Bontadina
Swild - Urban Ecology & Wildlife Research

PhD

About

143
Publications
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Introduction
Fabio Bontadina currently works at SWILD - Urban Ecology & Wildlife Research in Zurich, Switzerland. He is guest researcher the Federal Research Institute WSL. Fabio does mainly research in Conservation Biology and Ecology. Their current projects include research on the conservation of endangered bat species, 'Lutra Alpina' on the recovery of otters in the European Alps - or 'BiodiverCity' on how to improve biodiversity in the urban areas. To contribute to the running Citizen Science project on urban wildlife, please report your wildlife observations from urban areas on this platform: www.stadtwildtiere.ch .

Publications

Publications (143)
Article
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We present and exemplify the potential of the long-term community science (= citizen science) project StadtWildTiere (German for ‘urban wildlife’) in a transnational context. StadtWildTiere gathers opportunistic sightings of urban wildlife to raise awareness of, increase knowledge of, and promote biodiversity in urban areas across Central Europe. T...
Article
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Voigt et al. (2021) provide a thorough analysis of the restrictions inherent to the estimation of bat abundance from acoustic surveys, and conclude that limitations of acoustic monitoring impede the reliable evaluation of bat fatalities at wind turbines. We argue that acoustic data recorded at the nacelle of wind turbines have been experimentally v...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Der Rotfuchs Vulpes vulpes wird in Europa intensiv bejagt. Als Begründung für die Jagd wird aufgeführt, dass Füchse gefährdete Tierarten sowie Nutztiere erbeuten, Krankheiten auf den Menschen und auf Haustiere übertragen und für Konflikte mit den Menschen im Siedlungsraum sorgen. Allerdings gibt es zunehmend Belege, dass die vorherr...
Article
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Habitat shift caused by human impact on vegetation structure poses a great threat to species which are specialized on unique habitats. Single layered beech forests, the main foraging habitat of Greater Mouse-eared Bats (Myotis myotis), are threatened by recent changes in forest structure. After this species suffered considerable population losses u...
Article
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In many areas, domestic cats are the most abundant predators of small vertebrates. Due to the potential impact on prey populations by cats, there are calls to investigate the effectiveness of visual and acoustic cues as measures to reduce the cat’s hunting efficiency. In this study, we complement previous studies on the efficacy of Birdsbesafe coll...
Experiment Findings
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Roads affect bats through barrier effects and collisions with vehicles. In particular, low-flying bat species are killed through collisions when flight corridors are cut by roads. One of the last populations of the endangered lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros lives in close proximity to the newly constructed motorway A17 connecting Dres...
Article
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Increasing urbanization and densification are two of the largest global threats to biodiversity. However, certain species thrive in urban spaces. Hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus have been found in higher densities in green areas of settlements as compared to rural spaces. With recent studies pointing to dramatically declining hedgehog numbers in rura...
Article
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The riparian vegetation belt is one of the few remaining structures that provide coverage for wildlife in many anthropogenic landscapes. It provides shelter for many species and functions as corridors for dispersal. However, this landscape is increasingly utilised by humans for leisure activities. The loss of riparian vegetation with a concurrent i...
Article
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Niedrig fliegende Fledermausarten sind durch den Straßenverkehr gefährdet. Zur Schadensminderung werden auch Fledermausschutzzäune vorgeschlagen. Sie sollen die Flughöhe bei der Querung einer Trasse steigern (Kollisionsschutz) oder Fledermäuse vom Trassenbereich fort zu punktuellen Querungshilfen hinleiten (Leiteinrichtung). In Feldexperimenten wu...
Article
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Low flying bats are threatened by traffic collisions; fences along roads are suggested to mitigate this. The intention is to increase bat flight height (collision protection) or to lead bats along road verges to secure crossing points, such as tunnels and green bridges (redirection). We tested the effectivity of protective fences in field expe...
Article
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Each year, large numbers of bats move across Europe between their summer and winter areas, yet even though many of them are endangered and legally protected, we are unaware about many aspects of their migratory behaviour. Here, taking Nyctalus noctula as a model species, we used stable hydrogen isotopic values in fur (d2Hf ) as an endogenous marker...
Article
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Single observations of badgers in urban areas have been interpreted as relicts of formerly rural populations that have merely survived urban encroachment. However, decades after the rise of urban fox populations in continental Europe, there is evidence from Switzerland which suggests that badgers may be following a similar trend. We present long-te...
Technical Report
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Um den Fledermausschutz in die Infrastrukturplanung zu integrieren stellt diese Publikation eine wichtige Arbeitsgrundalge dar für Planer und Unterhaltsverantwortliche von Verkehrsinfrastrukturen sowie Beratungsbüros im Umweltbereich. Konflikte mit dem Fledermausschutz können so reduziert und Aufwertungsmöglichkeiten bei Verkehrsinfrastrukturprojek...
Technical Report
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Cette publication propose une base de travail pour les planificateurs et les responsables de l’entretien des infrastructures de transport ainsi que les bureaux de conseil en environnement dans l’optique d’intégrer la conservation des chauves-souris dans la planification des infrastructures. Elle vise une réduction des conflits liés à la protection...
Book
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Migrating bats are increasingly under pressure by anthropogenic habitat alterations, climate change and large numbers of wind farms built in the last two decades. Therefore, it is im-portant to learn more about seasonal migration and pathways used by migratory bats. In 2012 the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschut...
Article
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Bats have evolved migration to escape unfavourable climatic conditions. However, their migratory flyways and the way how they surmount geographical barriers are still unknown. The Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps is a mountain covered in permafrost (3460m ASL), known colloquially as the " Top of Europe ". Using broadband ultrasound recorders, we test...
Preprint
Full-text available
Bats have evolved migration to escape unfavourable climatic conditions. However, their migratory flyways and the way how they surmount geographical barriers are still unknown. The Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps is a mountain covered in permafrost (3460m ASL), known colloquially as the “Top of Europe”. Using broadband ultrasound recorders, we tested...
Article
Full-text available
High bat diversity in forest nature reserves in the Canton Zug Switzerland harbours 30 bat species. Of these, more than 80% have at least part of their habitat in forests. All 22 Swiss priority bat species are considered as forest species. These include twelve forest target species, for which a specific management is required. However, because of t...
Article
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Bats are a biodiverse mammal order providing key ecosystem services such as pest suppression, pollination, and seed dispersal. Bats are also very sensitive to human actions, and significant declines in many bat populations have been recorded consequently. Many bat species find crucial roosting and foraging opportunities in European forests. Such fo...
Article
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So far there are no systematically collected data on the flight and road crossing behavior of the Alcathoe Bat. We therefore summarize the current knowledge comprising five case studies from three German federal states. These affirm the necessity and high priority of installing special road crossing structures for this species. As a structure-bound...
Article
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The life cycle of the zoonotic cestode Echinococcus multilocularis depends on canids (mainly red foxes) as definitive hosts and on their specific predation on rodent species (intermediate hosts). Host densities and predation rates are key drivers for infection with parasite eggs. We demonstrate that they strongly depend on multifaceted human–wildli...
Article
To ensure viable species populations in fragmented landscapes, individuals must be able to move between suitable habitat patches. Despite the increased interest in biodiversity assessment in urban environments, the ecological relevance of habitat connectivity in highly fragmented landscapes remains largely unknown. The first step to understanding t...
Conference Paper
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Red Lists are indispensable tools in conservation planning, decision-making and monitoring trends of extinction risk. The Red List of threatened bats in Switzerland dates back to 1994, well before current IUCN guidelines. In tackling its revision, we made accessible information from national databases of the Swiss Coordination Centre for Bat Protec...
Conference Paper
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Like several European countries Switzerland is promoting wind energy projects according to its exit strategy from nuclear and fossil-fuel power. As bats can be killed by wind turbines the Swiss government has charged the Swiss Coordination Centre for Bat Protection to elaborate recommendations for the integration of bat conservation concerns in the...
Conference Paper
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For the last two decades, the installation of wind parks in Europe has been accelerated to reach the ambitious targets of the energy turnaround and to combat climate change. Especially hill tops, ridges and alpine passes benefit from continuous winds. Therefore, remote sites throughout the European Alps are increasingly proposed for wind parks in o...
Article
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Migration is adaptive if survival benefits are larger than costs of residency. Many aspects of bat migration ecology such as migratory costs, stopover site use and fidelity are largely unknown. Since many migrating bats are endangered, such information is urgently needed to promote conservation. We selected the migrating Leisler's bat (Nyctalus lei...
Book
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There are 30 species of bats in Switzerland. Of the 26 species evaluated, 58 % (15 species) are included on the Swiss Red List according to the criteria proposed by the IUCN and 27 % (7 species) are near threatened (NT). Species roosting in attics and hunting in very structured landscapes are the most threatened. Many threats are associated with th...
Article
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Wildlife such as stone martens Martes foina have adapted to live in urban areas, which are spreading worldwide. Conflicts with humans can arise when martens enter buildings and cause serious damage to roof insulation. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for measures that will reduce such human–wildlife conflicts. Data we collected from a big i...
Data
The Industrial building (above), and the marten at the opening that later was protected by the wire mesh
Data
In the industrial study site, both types of electric fencing were used simultaneously. A woven wire mesh net (5.9 cm mesh width) was used to block the several openings in the damaged roof along the lateral house wall of the industrial building (A). Electric wire strands (0.16 cm diameter) plus an electric polytape (10 mm breadth, 4 x 0.16 stainless...
Article
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Assessing the ecological requirements of species coexisting within a community is an essential requisite for developing sound conservation action. A particularly interesting question is what mechanisms govern the stable coexistence of cryptic species within a community, i.e. species that are almost impossible to distinguish. Resource partitioning t...
Article
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Deciduous woodlands have undergone major structural changes in Europe in the course of the last century. Dense woodlands have, for instance, replaced traditionally managed, open sweet chestnut groves, and have led to biodiversity losses. Surveys carried out in the southern Alps have shown that the frequency of occurrence of the rare migratory Leisl...
Article
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Agricultural intensification has caused a decline in structural elements in European farmland, where natural habitats are increasingly fragmented. The loss of habitat structures has a detrimental effect on biodiversity and affects bat species that depend on vegetation structures for foraging and commuting. We investigated the impact of connectivity...
Article
Full-text available
Deciduous woodlands have undergone major structural changes in Europe in the course of the last century. Dense woodlands have, for instance, replaced traditionally managed, open sweet chestnut groves, and have led to biodiversity losses. Surveys carried out in the southern Alps have shown that the frequency of occurrence of the rare migratory Leisl...
Article
Full-text available
Il numero di persone che vive in città è sempre maggiore. Le esigenze espresse dalla popolazione sugli spazi e gli ambienti verdi in città sembrano essere ottime premesse per una natura urbana diversificata e vitale, favorevole a molte specie di piante e animali presenti in città. Sono queste le conclusioni alle quali è giunto un vasto studio inter...
Article
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For habitat specialists, fragmentation has major consequences as it means less suitable habitat for the species to live in. In a fragmented landscape, we would expect larger, but spatially more clustered, foraging ranges. We studied the impact of landscape fragmentation on the foraging range and habitat exploitation of a specialised forest bat by r...
Article
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Aim The discovery of cryptic species poses new challenges for species conservation. Species distributions and conservation status have to be re‐evaluated, and the ecological requirements within the species complex have to be re‐assessed to recommend adequate conservation guidelines. The recent discovery in C entral E urope of the cryptic bat specie...
Article
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Les villes sont de plus en plus peuplées. Nos exigences vis-à-vis des espaces de détente et des paysages quotidiens coïncident étonnamment bien avec les conditions qui favorisent une nature urbaine diversifiée, habitat d’un grand nombre d’animaux et de plantes. Telle est la conclusion de l’étude en écologie et en sciences sociales à vaste échelle B...
Article
In den Städten leben immer mehr Menschen. Unsere Ansprüche an Erholungsräume und Alltagslandschaften decken sich mit den Vor- aussetzungen für eine vielfältige Stadtnatur als Lebensraum für eine grosse Anzahl von Tieren und Pflanzen erstaunlich gut. Zu diesem Fazit kommt die breit angelegte ökologische und sozialwissenschaftliche Studie Biodive...
Article
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Dietary niche partitioning is postulated to play a major role for the stable coexistence of species within a community, particularly among cryptic species. Molecular markers have recently revealed the existence of a new cryptic species of long-eared bat, Plecotus macrobullaris, in the European Alps. We studied trophic niches as well as seasonal and...
Data
Number of long-eared bats (n = 251; 137 P. auritus; 73 P. macrobullaris; 41 P. austriacus) mist-netted at the entrance to maternity roosts in six parapatric (separate roosts) and two sympatric (mixed roosts) populations in Valais (Swiss uplands) and Argovia (Swiss lowlands). P. aur P. auritus, P. mac P. macrobullaris and P. aus P. austriacus
Article
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Domestic cats Felis catus, as companion animals provided with supplemental food, are not limited by the availability of wild prey and locally occur at extraordinary high densities. There is growing concern about the potential impact of large cat numbers on native prey populations. In the present study, we quantified the minimum number of animals ki...
Article
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Urbanization is a fundamental environmental change, today happening at accelerated speed worldwide. Despite the strong and permanent human impact, urban biodiversity has generally proved to be sur-prisingly high. Quantitative information on the effect of management actions on biodiversity is often lacking but is an indispensable basis for decisions...
Article
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Myotis capaccinii (Bonaparte, 1837), una delle specie di pipistrello europee maggiormente minacciate, era con-siderato estinto in Svizzera. Alcuni nuovi ritrovamenti nella vicina Italia hanno però reso necessaria una rivalutazione del suo statuto. Nell'ambito del progetto BDM–CH, durante l'estate 2010 sono quindi state effettuate due notti di regi-...
Article
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Spatially organized distribution patterns of species and communities are shaped by both autogenic processes (neutral mechanism theory) and exogenous processes (niche theory). In the latter, environmental variables that are themselves spatially organized induce spatial structure in the response variables. The relative importance of these processes h...
Article
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The identification of cryptic species may significantly change our view about their distribution, abundance, ecology and therefore conservation status. In the Eur-opean Alps, molecular studies have revealed the existence of three sibling species of plecotine bats Plecotus auritus, Plecotus austriacus and, very recently, Plecotus macrobullaris. Know...
Article
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White-nose syndrome is an emerging disease in North America that has caused substantial declines in hibernating bats. A recently identified fungus (Geomyces destructans) causes skin lesions that are characteristic of this disease. Typical signs of this infection were not observed in bats in North America before white-nose syndrome was detected. How...