Agriculture and Water Availability Show Contrasting Effects on Bats in a Mediterranean Island of Outstanding Chiropteran Biogeographical Value.

ABSTRACT: With their unique ecosystems and evolutionary dynamics, small islands offer fascinating contexts to explore animal diversity. Island bats are key players in maintaining ecological balance. However, their populations are threatened worldwide, necessitating comprehensive research and conservation strategies. Pantelleria, a small Mediterranean island and a biogeographic crossroad between Europe and Africa, offers an excellent model to exemplify the challenges to bat conservation in such geographic contexts. We tested three hypotheses: (1) bats would show weak preference patterns for landscape composition due to the island's heterogeneous landscapes, (2) farmland (especially vineyards) would strongly affect bat activity, and (3) distance from water sources would highly influence bat richness a

SUBMITTER: Cistrone L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11664209 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature