Need for multiscale planning for conservation of urban bats

For over a century there have been continual efforts to incorporate nature into urban planning. These efforts (i.e., urban reconciliation) aim to manage and create habitats that support biodiversity within cities. Given that species select habitat at different spatial scales, understanding the scale at which urban species respond to their environment is critical to the success of urban reconciliation efforts. We assessed specieshabitat relationships for common bat species at 50-m, 500-m, and 1 km spatial scales in the Chicago (U.S.A.) metropolitan area and predicted bat activity across the greater Chicago region. Habitat characteristics across all measured scales were important predictors of silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagansj and eastern red bat (lasiurus borealis) activity, and big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscusj activity was significantly lower at urban sites relative to rural sites. Open vegetation had a negative effect on silver-haired bat activity at the 50-m scale but a positive effect at the 500-m scale, indicating potential shifts in the relative importance of some habitat characteristics at different scales. These results demonstrate that localized effects may be constrained by broader spatial patterns. Ourfindings highlight the importance of considering scale in urban reconciliation efforts and our landscape predictions provide information that can help prioritize urban conservation work. Durante más de un siglo ha habido esfuerzos continuos para incorporar a la naturaleza dentro de la planeación urbana. Estos esfuerzos (es decir, la reconciliación urbana) buscan administrar y crear habitats que mantengan a la biodiversidad dentro de las ciudades. Ya que las especies seleccionan el habitat a diferentes escalas espaciales, entender la escala a la que las especies urbanas responden a su ambiente es critico para el éxito de los esfuerzos de reconciliación urbana. Evaluamos las relaciones especie-habitat para especies comunes de murciélagos a escalas espaciales de 50 m, 500 m y 1 km en el área metropolitana de Chicago (E.U.A.) y pronosticamos la actividad de murciélagos en la región metropolitana de Chicago. Las características de habitat en todas las escalas medidas fueron pronosticadores importantes de la actividad del murciélago plateado (Lasionycteris noctivagans,) y del murciélago rojo occidental (Lasiurus borealis), y la actividad del gran murciélago marrón (Eptesicus fuscus)fue significativamente menor en los sitios urbanos que en los