He Campus of the University of Navarra has for many years been an essential refuge for batswho use urban and peri-urban gardens as habitat. However, pruning and removing trees ancient, for security reasons, reduced the natural refuges available for arboreal species such as the medium noctule.
In this context, Juan Tomás Alcalde, biologist and president of the Spanish Association for the Conservation and Study of Bats (SECEMU)led a team of students from graduate degrees Biology And Environmental Sciences in a comprehensive count of bat specimens and colonies on the university campus. The main objective is to detect samples in heat and evaluate presence of these populations.
The initiative is part of a broader plan to track these mammals and the state of its refuges, promoted by the Sustainable Development Department of Pamplona City Hall. According to Enrique Baquero, professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Navarra“We are aware of the importance of maintaining biodiversity of the campus, since its health also benefits human beings, being part of the approach of One health“.
The campus, as well as other parks Pamplonais home to one of the seven known colonies of endangered species in Spain, the medium noctule (Nyctalus noctula), whose population has declined considerably in recent decades.
THE clicks These are social sounds bats make to communicate. Although they are ultrasonic and are not perceived by adult humans, students from the University of Navarra demonstrated their ability to listen to them.
During the recent campaign conducted last September 9students played a fundamental role in the watershed of these sounds. This effort led to detection of a possible new grouping area of medium noctulethat even experts could not have identified without their help.
Once these have been identified mammalssome females were marked with chips to track their travel routes and study their migratory behavior over time. This marking is part of a European project led by the Max Planck Institute of Germany, which seeks to understand the migrations noctules throughout Europe.
This initiative is part of the subjects’ practices »Applied animal biodiversity” And “Methods in animal and plant diversity», belonging to the degrees of Biology And Environmental Sciencesas well as Double Degree in these areas in the Faculty of Sciences from the University of Navarra.
