From Literature to Acoustic Monitoring: Exploring the Ecology, Conservation, and Landscape Interactions of Sicilian Bats

Islands are renowned for their unique patterns of bat species assemblage and endemism, yet they are still among the most threatened taxa. Despite being the largest island in the Mediterranean, research on Sicilian bats is still inadequate and scattered. This Ph.D. aims to identify research trends, priorities, and status of research in the Mediterranean and Sicily. According to the procured research gaps, we conducted an acoustic monitoring study to assess the following research gaps: How vegetation structure, landscape scale, and climatic variables can influence bat activity and assemblage? And what species are occurring on the least studied small islands around Sicily?Systematic reviews revealed unbalanced research efforts across geographical areas, a bias in the studied species, a lack of knowledge regarding bats' interaction across natural habitats, and little research targeting small islands around Sicily. Acoustic data demonstrated the presence of 15 bat species/phonic among 10,957 calls recorded during 262 nights across Ficuzza natural habitats. Landscape factors such as proximity to unpaved roads, anthropogenic structures, and dung density significantly influenced bat activity. Bats responded differently depending on their foraging guild groups. Bats exhibited varied responses based on foraging guilds, with different nightly activity patterns observed. Through sporadic acoustic monitoring, we also demonstrate the importance of the small islands around Sicily. We reported new species for the first time, including Nyctalus spp. in the Aeolian islands, H. savii and P. pipistrellus in the Pelagie Islands (Lampedusa), and T. teniotis in Pantelleria. This thesis demonstrates the importance of systematic and acoustic as evidence-based approaches to identify, foster, and fill research gaps. Further studies are still needed to assess bat distribution, abundance, and their interaction across different ecosystems and habitats for long-term conservation.