Globally, forests are under pressure to cope with an increasing human demand for forest products, while the need to protect forest biota increases. Old-growth forests are reference systems for the study of natural structures and processes in forest ecosystems. Results from such studies can be used to derive management practices that support and even foster biodiversity.

Most temperate bat species exhibit a high affinity towards forest habitats. We studied the foraging behaviour of temperate woodland bats in naturally created canopy gaps. The study took place in a large and coherent Central European lowland old-growth forest, the “Belovezhskaya Pushcha” in Belarus. We used passive acoustic recorders to assess the activity and diversity of bats in 12 natural canopy gaps and in adjacent forest interior control plots in two different forest habitats.

We found that the activity of open-space foragers and narrow-space foragers did not differ between forest gaps and the adjacent forest interior. The activity of edge-space foraging bats was higher in forest gaps. Bat diversity in mixed-coniferous forest stands was higher in canopy gaps. Gap size differently influenced bat guild activity. While the activity of open-space and narrow-space foragers did not vary with gap size, the activity of the edge-space foragers declined in broadleaved forests with increasing gap size. Bat diversity decreased with increasing gap size only in broadleaved forests.

Our results demonstrate the differential influence of small-scale disturbances in old-growth forests on temperate bat guilds. Furthermore, our study highlights the importance of native broadleaved forests for the temperate bat community.

在全球范围内，森林面临着应对人类对林产品日益增长的需求的压力，而保护森林生物群的需求也在增加。原始森林是研究森林生态系统中自然结构和过程的参考系统。此类研究的结果可用于推导出支持甚至促进生物多样性的管理实践。

大多数温带蝙蝠物种对森林栖息地表现出高度的亲和力。我们研究了温带林地蝙蝠在自然形成的树冠缝隙中的觅食行为。该研究在白俄罗斯的“Belovezhskaya Pushcha”大而连贯的中欧低地原始森林中进行。我们使用被动式声学记录器来评估蝙蝠在 12 个自然树冠间隙和两个不同森林栖息地的相邻森林内部控制地块中的活动和多样性。

我们发现开放空间觅食者和狭窄空间觅食者的活动在林隙和相邻森林内部之间没有差异。边缘空间觅食蝙蝠的活动在林隙中较高。混合针叶林林分中的蝙蝠多样性在冠层间隙中更高。间隙大小对蝙蝠公会活动的影响不同。虽然开放空间和狭窄空间觅食者的活动不随间隙大小而变化，但边缘空间觅食者的活动在阔叶林中随着间隙大小的增加而下降。蝙蝠多样性仅在阔叶林中随着间隙大小的增加而降低。

我们的结果证明了原始森林中的小规模干扰对温带蝙蝠公会的不同影响。此外，我们的研究强调了原生阔叶林对温带蝙蝠群落的重要性。