All of the 18 bat species which are verified for the area of Palatinate are listed in the Red Lists of Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as in the annex IV of the FFH habitats directive as “strictly protected”.
Besides habitat loss, intensification of agriculture and construction of new roads, wind turbines are serious threads for bats. Because of the turnaround of the energy policy the number of renewable energy plants, including wind turbines, will rise even further in the next years. The city of Landau plans building up to nine wind turbines at the “Taubensuhl” in the middle of the Palatinate Forest.

Previous studies show significantly higher risks for bats to die from wind turbines which are located in closed forest areas than ones built on plain lands. On the other hand there are very few studies which examine differences in bat distribution on vertical levels in forests. Especially the area above the canopy is not studied very well. This might be important since most studies to bat activity are conducted from the ground.
My goal is find out if there are differences in the occurrence of bat species below and above the canopy or not, and therefor if bat studies from the ground can deliver representative results for all heights in the study area.