Šikšnosparnių įvairovė ir aktyvumas Kunigiškių vėjo jėgainių parke /

• Main Author: Balaika, Mindaugas
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: Lithuanian; English
• Published: Institutional Repository of Vilnius University 2023
• Subjects: Nyctalus noctula; Pipistrellus nathusii
• Online Access: https://repository.vu.lt/VU:ELABAETD192828989&prefLang=en_US

Bats (lat. Chiroptera) account for one - fifth of the world's mammal species, and are the world's only flying mammals. There exists 14 species of bats in Lithuania, which are classified as are of the same (Vespertilionidae) family, another three bat species are to be searched. Bats orient in the enviroment using their sight and by emitting ultrasound. They feed on insects and occasionally can grab small fish from the surface of the water. In June - October 2022 eight species of bats were recorded in the Kunigiskes wind farm and in the control biotope during a survey. The most frequently recorded species were Nyctalus noctula, Nyctalus leisleri and Pipistrellus nathusii. During the study period, bats near wind turbines were most active in June. Also in the vicinity of the wind turbines in all months of the study, except for August, was recorded higher bat activity than in the control biotope, but statistically significant differences in activity were recorded only in June (t-test: t = 2.04, p = 0.03). In the vicinity of the wind turbines, the most active species in June and September was the Nyctalus noctula (> 60% of all sonograms recorded), followed by Nyctalus leisleri in August (33%) and Eptesicus nilssonii in October (62%). Meanwhile in the control habitat, the most active species was Nyctalus noctula in June, September and October (> 40%), and Eptesicus serotinus in August (33%). Not all bat species were equally active during the night in the months studied in the vicinity of the wind turbines, as well as in the control biotope. Only in June, the most active bat species throughout the night in both biotopes was Nyctalus noctula. In the wind farm biotope the hours after sunset and midnight were the most active, although the hours before sunrise were very active in June, while in the control biotope the hours after midnight and before sunrise were the most active.