BASELINE ASSESSMENT OF THE BATS OF DEVILS RIVER STATE NATURAL AREA, DAN A. HUGHES UNIT, VAL VERDE COUNTY, TEXAS

A survey of bats was conducted from July 2013 to December 2014 to determine the species diversity and community composition at Devils River State Natural Area, Dan A. Hughes Unit, (DRSNA-DHU). Traditional and acoustic techniques for sampling bat species were used to detect species at six stationary sites and along a 12.9-km transect route across DRSNA-DHU. There were a total of 24 transects driven, 14 nights of stationary recording, and 10 nights of mist netting during the course of the study. Using information from acoustic recordings (analyzed manually and via software analysis) and mist net captures, 13 species were documented at DRSNA-DHU: Antrozous pallidus, Corynorhinus townsendii, Lasiurus borealis, Lasiurus cinereus, Lasionycteris noctivagans, Mormoops megalophylla Myotis velifer, Myotis yumanensis, Nycticeius humeralis, Nyctinomops macrotis, Parastrellus hesperus, Perimyotis subflavus, Tadarida brasiliensis.