DOI: 10.5061/dryad.wstqjq2sk
title: The emergence activities of nine cave-roosting bats under different lighting conditions

description: Artificial light at night has become an emerging environmental pollutant,
 posing a serious threat to biodiversity. Cave-roosting animals are
 vulnerable to light pollution due to long-term adaptation to nocturnal
 niches, and the problem is especially severe in the context of cave
 tourism and limestone mining. Mitigating the adverse impacts of artificial
 light on cave-dwelling animals presents a challenge. Here, we
 aimed to assess the relative contribution of spectral parameters and light
 intensity to emergence behavior among nine bat species inhabiting a karst
 cave, including Rhinolophus macrotis, Rhinolophus pearsonii,
 Rhinolophus rex, Rhinolophus pusillus, Rhinolophus siamensis, Rhinolophus
 sinicus, Hipposideros armiger, Myotis davidii, and Miniopterus
 fuliginosus. We manipulated light spectra and intensities through
 light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and gel filters at the entrance of bat
 roost. We monitored nightly passes per species to quantify bat emergence
 under the dark control and ten lighting conditions (blue, green, yellow,
 red, and white light at high and low intensities) using ultrasonic
 recording. Our analyses showed that the number of bat passes tended to be
 reduced in the presence of white, green, and yellow light, independent of
 light intensity. In contrast, the number of bat passes showed no
 pronounced differences under the dark control, blue light, and red light.
 The number of bat passes was primarily affected by LED light’s blue
 component, red component, peak wavelength, and half-width instead of light
 intensity. These results demonstrate that spectral parameters of LED light
 can significantly affect emergence behavior of cave-dwelling bats. Our
 findings highlight the importance of manipulating light colors to reduce
 the negative impacts of light pollution on cave-roosting bats as a
 function of their spectral sensitivity. We recommend the use of gel
 filters to manage existing artificial lighting systems in underground
 habitats exploited by bats.
description: We manipulated light spectra and intensities through
 light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and gel filters at the entrance of a
 karst cave inhabited by nine bat species, including <em>Rhinolophus
 macrotis</em>,<em> Rhinolophus
 pearsonii,</em> <em>Rhinolophus
 rex</em>,<em> Rhinolophus
 pusillus</em>, <em>Rhinolophus
 siamensis</em>, <em>Rhinolophus
 sinicus</em>, <em>Hipposideros
 armiger</em>, <em>Myotis davidii,</em> and
 <em>Miniopterus fuliginosus.</em> We recorded echolocation
 vocalizations per species under the dark control and ten lighting
 conditions (blue, green, yellow, red, and white light at high and low
 intensities) via an ultrasonic recording system (UltrasoundGate 116;
 Avisoft Bioacoustics, Berlin, Germany). Using Avisoft-SASLab Pro (Avisoft
 Bioacoustics), we inspected bat echolocation vocalizations counted the
 number of passes per species under each treatment. Spectral parameters and
 intensity of LED light were measured using an OHSP350 spectrometer
 (Hangzhou Hopoo Light Color Technology Co., Ltd., China) and an SW582
 illuminance meter (Frank Electronics Co., Ltd, China) held horizontally at
 a height of 1.7 m. The horizontal distance between an experimenter and the
 lamp was 1 m during luminance measurement. 
description: Microsoft Excel.
description: # Title of Dataset The emergence activities of nine cave-roosting bats
 under different lighting conditions. ## Description of the data and file
 structure Date: experimental date. Treatment: different lighing
 conditions, including dark control, strong blue light, strong green light,
 strong yellow light, strong red light, strong white light, weak blue
 light, weak green light, weak yellow light, weak red light, and weak white
 light. Onset time: the time of onset of each treatment per night. Number
 of bat passes: a call sequence composed of two or more consecutive
 echolocation pulses and when the time between calls exceeded four times
 the inter-pulse interval. Light intensity: the level of illumination of
 light-emitting diode (LED) lighting (lux). Peak wavelength: the wavelength
 of the maximum intensity of LED lighting (nm). Red component: percentage
 of red component of LED lighting (%). Blue component: percentage of blue
 component of LED lighting (%). Half width: the range of wavelength at one
 half of the maximum intensity of LED lighting (nm). Species: bat species
 studied. NA: light intensity and spectral parameters could not be measured
 under the dark control.