The distribution of cave-dwelling bats and conservation status of underground habitats in Northwestern Turkey

摘要: AbstractThe distribution and abundance of cave-dwelling bats were investigated in the Thrace region northwest Turkey. Data werecollected two periods, January–March April–May 2001, from 32 underground sites, 25 which had not been surveyedpreviously. Approximately 76,000 representing 13 species recorded. The most abundant Miniopterusschreibersii, Rhinolophus euryale, Myotis myotis/blythii, capaccinii, ferrumequinum. roosts eval-uated for their conservation importance. important sites Turkish are Dupnisa Koyunbaba. DupnisaCave serves as a hibernaculum to approximately 28,000 five species. Koyunbaba Cave is nursery roost toapproximately 23,000 six Presently, none caves has adequate protection some bat popu-lations under serious threat. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Chiroptera; Dupnisa; Koyunbaba; Roosts 1. IntroductionThere growing agreement that more effort isneeded ensure survival representative wildlifepopulations throughout Europe, success orfailure will depend on our basic knowledge thesepopulations. nocturnal nature mobility batsmean they relatively little studied ourknowledge them lags behind conspicu-ous mammals. In particular, known about extensive limestone area theThrace Although few these caveshave there no systematic census ofthe populations (Benda Horacek, 1998). Theonly was conducted in1999–2000 covered eight inEastern Thrace, providing records 17,000 rep-resenting (Furman Ozg€ €ul, 2002).This study western extension 1999–2000census, data caves, evaluating therelative importance roosting sites. As areefforts turn into popular recreational region,some have become or may soon touristdestinations. Our willprovide baseline help protect conserve themost sites.2. MethodsThe research region,northwestern Turkey, within belt liningthe Black Sea coast (Fig. 1). area, approxi-mately 280 km long 40 wide, extends betweenthe Turkish-Bulgarian border C atalca Penin-sula. east, forms wide plateau, whichbecomes mountainous towards northwest. av-erage altitude eastern plateau approximately300 m ranges from700 800 m.