| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1990 |
| Authors: | J. T. McDonald, Rautenbach, I. L., Nel, J. A. J. |
| Journal: | S. Afr. J. Wildl. Res. |
| Volume: | 20 |
| Pagination: | 133-145 |
| Date Published: | 1990a |
| Keywords: | activity patterns, behaviour, Beutespektrum, Chiroptera, communities, conservation, diet, echolocation, ecology, feeding habits, Fledermäuse, food distribution, foraging, habitat preferences, Mammalia, Miniopteridae, Miniopterus schreibersii, Myotis tricolor, Nahrung, Nahrungsspektrum, Nahrungswahl, Nycteridae, Nycteris thebaica, predation pressure, prey selection, Rhinolophidae, Rhinolophus capensis, Rhinolophus clivosus, seasonality, South Africa, speciation, sympatric, Vespertilionidae, wing morphology |
| Abstract: | Prey preferences, foraging strategies, foraging zones, activity regimes and habitat selections of the five species of insectivorous bats at the Guano Cave on the De Hoop Provincial Nature Reserve, were investigated. It is evident that the cave is used on a seasonal basis by the different species. A measure of temporal and spatial separation of resources between species could be demonstrated, particularly of airspace and prey, and this differentiation correlates with differences in specific wing morphology and echolocation attributes. It would appear that bats do not feed extensively over nearby wheat fields, and available evidence suggests that the potentially deleterious effect of insecticide poisoning does not presently seem to be a major threat to the bat populations. |