Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Tropical
Biome: Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Central latitude: 15.518590
Central longitude: -88.246860
Duration: 14 years, from 2006 to 2019

2532 records

55 distinct species

Across the time series Sturnira hondurensis is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

Bat communities were surveyed by mist netting at fixed netting stations (two in each camp, except for basecamp where there are four) over eight-week expeditions running between June-August each year. Following an initial training week at Base Camp, mist net surveys were completed 6 nights per week and took place at up to four different camps simultaneously. At each camp, narrow (< 1 m wide) trails were cleared in suitable patches of forest to place five 6m long mist nets, each 2.5 meters high, providing a total netting area of 75m2. Two permanent mist netting sites were used per camp, each one as close to the main survey site as possible. Mist netting was conducted between 6:00pm and 12am, giving rise to a netting effort per site per night of 450m2 (6 hours x 75m2). Therefore, the total netting effort for each camp in any given week was 36 hours or 2,700m2. The nets were checked every 15 to 20 minutes during the first 3 hours of sampling and every 30 minutes for the last three. All the bats were extracted from the nets following standardized protocols to minimize the stress and were kept in capture bags for 30mins, maximum. This time varied depending on the size of the bat and the sex; pregnant females were measured quickly and released.

Citation(s)