Bats: a Key for Saving Biodiversity
Project location: ITALY, Abruzzo
Project start date: January 2002 -
Project end date: December 2003
Project number: 2001-03
Beneficiary: Centro Studi Ecologici Appenninici
Project links:

The Nando Peretti Foundation and the Park are co-financing a 3-year conservation project aimed to determine roost selection in two species of bats:
Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus)
Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus), both typical tree-dwellers.
Information on preferred forest sites is vital to protect these species.
Foraging and drinking sites will be identified by recording the calls that bats emit in free-flight.
Once selected the most favourable sites, the bats will be captured with mist-nets and fitted with radio-tags applied by means of a non-toxic glue.
This procedure is completely harmless to bats and has been successfully applied to Barbastelle and long-eared bats.
Since the tags weight less than 5% of the bat's body mass, they have no influence on the bat activity and behaviour.
Soon after tagging, the bats will be released and tracked to their tree-roosts.
The roosting sites will be mapped and protected by the Abruzzo National Park.