Spatial and Temporal Acoustic Analysis of Bats Across Four Central Kentucky Nature Preserves

As disease and destruction of habitat continuously cause the dwindling of bat populations across the landscape it is imperative that studies are conducted to determine the behavior of bats and that this data incorporated in management prescriptions. This study focused on activity patterns of bats across four nature preserves located within Central Kentucky. Data collected using acoustic detectors was compared across the four nature preserves to determine if there would be variation among the nightly activity pattern of bats present. The Shannon-Weaver index was used to observe overall biodiversity of the sites (Table 1). Graphs were created to model the movement trends of the four most prevalent bat species on the four nature preserves throughout a nightly basis. The results of the study showed variation among the patterns of peak activity across the four nature preserves, in different hours of the night