Bat monitoring along the Drava River (Mammalia: Chiroptera)

Abstract

In the Drava monitoring project bat monitoring has been carried out along the Drava between Ortilos and Babócsa since 2000 with the methods below, three times a year: capture with net and ringing, sampling with bat-detector along a path, point counting in the case of Daubenton's bat and pond bat, survey of buildingdwelling colonies. Four sampling areas were chosen: Ortilos - floodplain of Drava, Gyékényes - Lankóci forest, Vízvár - floodplain of Drava and village, Babócsa - Mérus forest and backwater of Drava to carry out monitoring on. 17 species of bats were indicated in the five years of research, three of them are endangered species Barbastelle bat {Barbastella barbastellus), Bechstein's bat {Myotis bechsteini) and the pond bat {Myotis dasycnemé). The region is quite abundant in species of which most are vulnarable not only in Hungary but also across Europe. All this indicates the natural status of the sampling areas and marks the importance of the floodplain along Drava in the conservation of the species concerned.