Altitudinal distribution of bats in the Pol’ana Mts area (Central Slovakia)

• Published in: Biologia
• Main Authors: Kaňuch, Peter, Krištín, Anton
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2006
• Subjects: Plant Science; Animal Science and Zoology; Genetics; Cell Biology; Biochemistry; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Molecular Biology; Barbastella barbastellus; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/s11756-006-0097-6; https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/biolog.2006.61.issue-5/s11756-006-0097-6/s11756-006-0097-6.pdf

Abstract In May — August, bats were mist-netted along an altitudinal gradient of 350–1350 m a.s.l. in the Pol’ana Mts area, to verify the correlation of species number decrease and the increase in elevation, to find which species could be predictors of certain altitude levels and to compare the sexual occurrence of species in various altitudes. Seventeen bat species were recorded. The most abundant mist-netted species were Myotis daubentonii (16%), M. myotis (13%) and M. mystacinus (12%). Otherwise, the most frequently caught species were M. mystacinus (40%), Eptesicus serotinus, M. myotis (26%) and Nyctalus leisleri (23%). In this study at a local scale, from oak to spruce vegetation stages, decreasing number of species with increasing altitude was found. Species dominance of the individual altitudinal levels was significantly different (15 species up to 600 m a.s.l., six species over 1100 m a.s.l.). The results indicated that the occurrence of some bat species, due to their ecological adaptations, is more or less characteristic for higher or lower altitudes of the Western Carphathians. The “lowland” species were considered to be mainly E. serotinus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, N. noctula, N. leisleri and M. daubentonii. In higher elevations (more than 850 m), the presence of reproductive females was not found, of all but one, N. noctula, of the “lowland” species which are breeding in the area. The “mountain” species were considered to be E. nilssonii and Plecotus auritus. The general occurrence and reproduction of M. mystacinus and Barbastella barbastellus, was not limited by elevation.