Bat ecology and conservation in semiarid Mediterranean landscapes (original) (raw)

This doctoral thesis is composed by four articles that have been published in international journals, attempts to resolve questions related with the biology, ecology and conservation of bats in semiarid Mediterranean landscapes (SE Spain). The research effort focused on fundamental aspects of bat biology that is take into consideration in preliminary studies in areas for which little information exists and where conservation measures need to be applied. The first article is a biometrical study of the wing measurements of Myotis myotis. The aims were: 1) to ascertain whether sexual size dimorphism (SSD) applies to wing measurements and to determine which of these measurements are more discriminant, 2) to check whether there are differences between paired and single males inside the swarming roosts, and 3) to discuss the ecological implications of SSD in this species. Our results confirmed SSD in M. myotis, where females are significantly bigger than males. The forearm and third finge...