New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts

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Activity patterns of long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) in a rural landscape, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Richard W. Griffiths

Department of Entomology and Animal Ecology
Lincoln University
PO Box 94
Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Present address: Department of Conservation, PO Box 474, Warkworth 0941, New Zealand.

rgriffiths@doc.govt.nz

Abstract The temporal and spatial activity patterns of long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) were assessed between January and July 1995 by automatic monitoring of echolocation calls, radio-telemetry and direct observation at Hanging Rock, South Canterbury. Automatic bat detection units recorded 8728 bat passes and 933 feeding buzzes during 272 nights of sampling. In addition, five radio-tagged post-lactating female bats were each followed for an average of 13.0 ± 3.2 (SE) days. Home range size averaged 471.4 ± 50.9 ha (95% median minimum convex polygons) but core areas of activity (50% of fixes) were 54.4 ± 5.4 ha (11.6 ± 3.1% of the home range size). Patterns of activity varied in relation to time of year, time of night, temperature, invertebrate activity and habitat. Between January and March, long-tailed bats consistently emerged from day roosts at sunset and flew throughout the night, with peaks of activity shortly after sunset and before sunrise. After the beginning of April, long-tailed bats no longer flew throughout the night, but they had one peak of activity between the first and third hour after sunset. Both automatic monitoring and radio-telemetry showed extensive use by long-tailed bats of river and riparian habitats. Radio-tagged bats avoided foraging over open farmland, and repeatedly returned to the same sites on consecutive nights.

Keywords activity patterns; bats; Chalinolobus tuberculatus; Chiroptera; foraging; habitat use; home range; New Zealand; temporal variation

Z07035; Online publication date 8 August 2007; Received 12 July 2007; accepted 16 July 2007

New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2007, Vol. 34: 247–258
0301–4223/07/3403–0247 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2007

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