Search results for "rural ecosystems"

Habitat preferences of bats in a rural area of Sicily determined by acoustic surveys

2009

<strong>Abstract</strong> The bat fauna of a 60 km<sup>2</sup> wide area representing the typical rural landscape of inland Sicily and including the small “Rocche di Entella” karstic plateau (Natural Reserve and SAC) was surveyed between May 2006 and September 2007. Sampling was carried out at 95 sites, distributed proportionally in six main habitats. Bat calls were time-expanded with a D980 bat detector and then identified to species level by a Discriminant Function Analysis. We recorded 305 bat passes and identified 96.4% of recorded calls. Moon phase, cloud cover and their interaction did not affect total bat activity, nor did the sampling peri…