Use of foraging habitats by bats in a Mediterranean area determined by acoustic surveys: conservation implications ...

• Main Authors: Russo, Danilo, Jones, Gareth
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2003
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13429772; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13429772

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) We determined habitat use by foraging bats by broad‐band acoustic surveys in 10 habitat types from a Mediterranean area (southern Italy). We applied discriminant functions to identify time‐expanded echolocation calls from free‐flying bats. Moon phase and cloud cover had no effect on bat activity. Only Hypsugo savii was influenced by temperature, and activity of Myotis daubentonii and Myotis capaccinii was reduced at higher wind speeds. Both total numbers of bat passes and feeding buzzes were highest over rivers and lakes. Pipistrellus kuhlii and H. savii were most frequently recorded. Pipistrellus kuhlii , Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Tadarida teniotis proved generalists in using foraging habitats. Water sites and conifer plantations were respectively the most and the least used habitats by H. savii . Rivers were especially important to Myotis bats, Miniopterus schreibersii and Pipistrellus pygmaeus . Unlike P. kuhlii , P. pipistrellus was frequent in beech ...