Hibernation phenologies and winter activities of four congeneric bat species hibernating simultaneously in an Eastern Alpine cave studied by phototrapping (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) ...

• Main Authors: Spitzenberger, Friederike, Kugelschafter, Karl, Weiss, Edmund
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Myotis nattereri
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13426975; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13426975

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Using phototrapping, we compared hibernation phenologies and winter activities displayed by four Myotis species (M. emarginatus, M. daubentonii, M. bechsteinii and M. nattereri) hibernating in Hermann's Cave in the winter 2018/2019. These congeneric species were deemed to be comparable as they are similar in body mass and geographic distribution. The cave is located in the submontane zone of the Eastern Alps in Kirchberg am Wechsel, Lower Austria (47°37'N, 15°58'E, 670 m a. s. l.). From 1 September 2018 to 30 April 2019, we phototrapped a total of 67,183 emerging bats. These included, besides photos of other species, photos of 15,250 Myotis nattereri, 2,432 M. bechsteinii, 1,327 M. emarginatus, and 1,112 M. daubentonii individuals. Ambient temperature was measured hourly by a logger positioned at the cave entrance. Despite exposure to the same environmental conditions, the four species exhibited notable differences in their hibernation behaviour. The length ...