IDENTIFICATION OF BRITISH BAT SPECIES BY MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF ECHOLOCATION CALL PARAMETERS

Abstract

1. A method for the identification of bat species from time-expanded broad-band recordings of their echolocation calls is presented. The method may be used for the assessment of habitat use by bats. 2. Recordings were made of echolocation calls produced by 536 bats of known species identity, belonging to 15 species found in Great Britain. One call was analysed per individual, and sonograms and descriptive statistics of six time and frequency variables of calls are presented. British bats can be placed in three groups according to the structure of their calls: high duty cycle FM/CF/FM bats (Rhinolophus spp.), low duty cycle FM bats (Myotis spp. and Plecotus spp.) and intermediate duty cycle FM/CF bats (Pipistrellus and Nyctalus spp. and Eptesicus serotinus). 3. FM/CF/FM bats could be identified from the peak frequency of their calls. Two separate quadratic multivariate discriminant analyses were carried out on the time and frequency parameters of calls produced by FM bats and FM/CF bats. For FM ba...