Browsing by Author "Ossa, Gonzalo"

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    Analysis of the echolocation calls and morphometry of a population of Myotis chiloensis (Waterhouse, 1838) from the southern Chilean temperate forest
    (2010) Ossa, Gonzalo; Tomas Ibarra, Jose; Barboza, Kathrin; Hernandez, Felipe; Galvez, Nicolas; Laker, Jerry; Bonacic, Cristian
    G. Ossa, J.T. Ibarra, K. Barboza, F. Hernandez, N. Galvez, J. Laker, and C. Bonacic. 2010. Analysis of the echolocation calls and morphometry of a population of Myotis chiloensis (Waterhouse, 1838) from the southern Chilean temperate forest. Cien. Inv. Agr. 37(2): 131-139. Echolocation is characteristic of bats of the suborder Microchiroptera. Though recent studies of echolocation calls in Latin America have generated significant advances in knowledge about distribution, habitat use and ecology of bats, the recording and analysis of bat calls is barely known in Chile. As a first step in studies on the ecology of the endemic Chilean myotis bat (Myotis chiloensis), we carried out morphometric measures and analyzed echolocation calls in a rural site near Puck (39 degrees 15'S 17 degrees W) in the Araucania Region of southern Chile. During January 2009, we obtained 22 records from captured and 75 records from flying individuals. The analysis of calls in searching phase showed that the terminal frequency for this species is 43.4 +/- 1.2 kHz, with a mean duration of 2.1 +/- 1.0 ms and an interval between pulses of 77.5 +/- 16.9 ms. The calls are FM - QCF, as is characteristic for the family Vespertilionidae. The contribution of new morphometric data from captured and released individuals indicates differences from previous studies. The records and acoustic analysis establishes a baseline for more detailed future ecological investigation of this and other bat species in Chile.
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    Diversity and foraging activity of bats in cultivated and uncultivated areas in agroecosystems of a Mediterranean-climate hotspot
    (2019) Muñoz, Alejandra E. ; Ossa, Gonzalo ; Zaviezo, Tania ; Bonacic, Cristián
    Bats are one of the least-studied vertebrate groups in Chile. We sampled six fruit farms in the Mediterranean-climate zone and three in a semiarid zone during 2015 and 2016, respectively. We assessed if activity (passes) and foraging (feeding buzzes) of bat species differed between cultivated and uncultivated intra-farm habitats. We found six bat species, all threatened and insectivorous. Tadarida brasiliensis was the most frequently recorded species. We found more activity and foraging in uncultivated than cultivated habitats in total, although the opposite trend was observed during springtime in semiarid region. More than a third of the bat passes were feeding buzzes in both habitats, suggesting the potential service to agriculture. Further investigation is needed to promote conservation of bats and their integration as biocontrols in agroecosystems in Chile.
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    Preliminary acoustic analysis of Myotis chiloensis (Waterhouse, 1838), Vespertilionidae, an endemic Bat of Southern Temperate Rainforest
    (2009) Ossa, Gonzalo; Ibarra Eliessetch, José Tomás; Hernández, Felipe; Gálvez Robinson, Nicolás Cristián; Laker, Jerry; Bonacic Salas, Cristián
    Echolocation is typical of microchiropteran bats and the detection of ultrasound calls has led to important advances in our knowledge about their distribution and habitat use. To date, monitoring of echolocation calls has been used most commonly for vespertilionids in different ecosystems. This has not been the case in Chile, where studies based on mist net trapping have provided our current knowledge about chiropteran biology. With the aim to broaden this knowledge, we recorded echolocation calls of Myotis chiloensis, an endemic bat of the temperate rainforest of Chile and Argentina, using the Pettersson D240X ultrasound detector (Pettersson Elektronik AB, Uppsala) in 10X time expansion mode, connected to an Edirol R-09 digital recorder. The recordings were analysed with Avisoft SASLab Pro 4.51 (R. Spetch, Germany) using 22,050 sampling frequency, FFT length 256, Hamming window and Overlap of 75%. The recordings were obtained from male bats, caught with mist nets near Pucón city (39º15'S 71º00'W), Araucania Region, southern Chile. A total of 22 echolocation calls of captured and released individuals and 75 calls of individuals flying near the shelter were recorded. The files of 12 captured and released individuals have been analyzed. The search phase pulse analysis showed that the terminal frequency characteristic for this species is 20.8 ± 0.6 kHz, with duration of 5.3 ± 2.5 ms and pulse interval of 149.9 ± 24.1 ms. The call is FM – QCF type - pulses start with a large narrowband (Frequency-Modulated), and then continue with frequency changes of a few kHz between the onset and the end of the component. This call is distinctive for the family Vespertilionidae. These is the first time the calls of M.chiloensis have been published, and this work opens up opportunities for future studies better to understand the foraging behaviour and habitat use by this species.