Habitat loss for black flying foxes and implications for Hendra virus

Abstract

Context

Environmental change impacts natural ecosystems and wildlife populations. In Australia, native forests have been heavily cleared and the local emergence of Hendra virus (HeV) has been linked to land-use change, winter habitat loss, and changing bat behavior.

Objectives

We quantified changes in landscape factors for black flying foxes ( Pteropus alecto), a reservoir host of HeV, in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia from 2000–2020. We hypothesized that native winter habitat loss and native remnant forest loss were greatest in areas with the most human population growth.

Methods

We measured the spatiotemporal change in human population size and native ‘remnant’ woody vegetation extent. We assessed changes in the observed P. alecto population and native winter habitats in bioregions where P. alecto are observed roosting in winter. We assessed changes in the amount of remnant vegetation across bioregions and within 50 km foraging buffers around roosts.

Results

Human populations in these bioregions grew by 1.18 M people, mostly within 50 km foraging areas around roosts. Remnant forest extent decreased overall, but regrowth was observed when policy restricted vegetation clearing. Winter habitats were continuously lost across all spatial scales. Observed roost counts of P. alecto declined.

Conclusion

Native remnant forest loss and winter habitat loss were not directly linked to spatial human population growth. Rather, most remnant vegetation was cleared for indirect human use. We observed forest loss and regrowth in response to state land clearing policies. Expanded flying fox population surveys will help better understand how land-use change has impacted P. alecto distribution and Hendra virus spillover.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-023-01642-w.