Bat fauna associated with artificial ponds in La Malinche National Park, a mountain ecosystem of Mexico

Abstract

AbstractAn increase in water demand in mountains has reduced its availability for the fauna. As conservation tools, artificial ponds can be used to offer water to animals. Many studies have assessed the use of ponds by bats. However, most of them have been concentrated in the United States and Europe, while in regions with higher bat diversity the information is scarce. We captured the bat species associated with artificial ponds in a Mexican mountain where water was intubated 25 years ago. We identified and analyzed the bats’ species proportion and sex ratio and evaluated if species richness and abundance were affected by season, mean monthly precipitation, maximum monthly temperature and maximum monthly humidity. We captured 90 bats of seven species (Vespertilionidae), where