Abstract
Urbanisation influences bat communities, yet the impacts in small settlements, particularly those that occur in mountain regions, remain poorly understood. We investigated how a human-modified mountain landscape influences bat species richness and activity along an urbanisation gradient in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Passive acoustic surveys across 32 sites recorded bat activity from 2019 to 2023. Environmental variables quantifying urban characteristics, habitat composition and configuration were measured at different spatial scales. We used generalised linear models and mixed models to assess the impact of settlement- and landscape-scale variables on bat species richness and activity. Bat activity and community composition did not differ significantly between villages, cities, or industrial sites, although species richness was significantly higher at villages compared to industrial sites. Small woody vegetation and proximity to forests positively influenced total bat activity, feeding activity, and Pipistrellus pipistrellus activity, whereas the number of forest patches surrounding settlements showed a negative correlation with total bat activity. At the species level, P. pipistrellus indicated a negative association with artificial light and larger forests surrounding settlements, while Pipistrellus kuhlii/P. nathusii showed a positive association with the presence of major rivers. Small settlements in mountain landscapes appear important but overlooked habitats for bat communities. Nevertheless, even highly urbanised areas, such as cities and industrial sites can support bat communities in mountain landscapes by providing settlement-scale vegetation and heterogeneous forest structure at the surrounding landscape-scale.