Winter is (not) coming: Acoustic monitoring and temperature variation across important bat hibernacula.

ABSTRACT: Little is known about the winter bat activity in Bulgaria, which poses challenges in monitoring potential deviations in their behaviour as a consequence of the warming climate. Using passive acoustic monitoring, we investigated the winter activity in some of Europe's largest hibernacula. Our findings reveal cave and species-specific activity patterns. Activity was observed throughout each month of the survey, with distinct peaks on specific days. At one high-elevation site, bat activity was restricted to a single night, while the highest overall activity occurred at the highest elevation site (1325 m). The most active species was Myotiscapaccinii (Bonaparte, 1837). While bats were mostly active right after sunset following their usual circadian rhythm, some daytime activity was also

SUBMITTER: Toshkova N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11786192 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature