Bats of the southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 7 years ago

ABSTRACT – We present the results of the first systematic survey of bats in the southern Carnarvon Basin. Two megabat and eleven microbat species were recorded. A twelfth microbat species, Macroderma gigas, is known from subfossil material. We demonstrate tight, functionally appropriate relationships between species' foraging microhabitats, flight performance indices, and echolocation call parameters. Patterns in the species composition of microbat assemblages across the study area conform with a 'temperate to tropical' climatic gradient, but are modified by variation in the structural complexity of the vegetation. Within the study area, these relationships allow the species composition of microbat assemblages to be predicted from vegetation structure and local availability of roost sites, and provide an explicit basis for assessing the reserve system from the perspective of microbats.