Trends in populations of selected bat species

Species of conservation concern, or those in conflict with man, are most efficiently managed with an understanding of their population dynamics. European bats exemplify the need for successful and cost-effective management for both reasons, often simultaneously. Across Europe, bats are protected, and the concept of Favourable Conservation Status (FCS) is used as a key tool for the assessment and licensing of disruptive actions to populations. However, for efficient decision-making, this assessment requires knowledge on the demographic rates and long-term dynamics of populations. We used capture–mark–recapture to describe demographic rates for the Serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) at two sites in England and investigate the transition rates between three stages: juveniles, immatures, and breeders. We then use these rates in an individual-based population dynamics model to investigate the expected trajectories for both populations. Our results demonstrate for the first time the presence and scale of temporal variation in this species' demography. We describe the lengthy prereproductive period (3.5 years) that female Serotines experience. Finally, we show how site-specific variation in demographic rates can produce divergent population trajectories. Effective management of European bat populations can be achieved through the understanding of life histories, and local demographic rates and population dynamics, in order to anticipate the presence of source and sink sites in the landscape. Using the Serotine bat in England, we show that these can be obtained from rigorous and systematic studies of long-term demographic datasets.

This spreadsheet is the underlying data for the biodiversity indicator C8, Mammals of the wider countryside (bats).

Bat populations are considered to be a good indicator of the broad state of wildlife and landscape quality because they utilise a range of habitats across the landscape and are sensitive to pressures in the urban, suburban and rural environment. All bats and their roosts are protected by domestic and European legislation. The UK is a signatory to the EUROBATs agreement, set up under the Convention on Migratory Species, with the intention of conserving all European bat populations. The wider relevance of bats as biodiversity indicators is presented in Jones et al. (2009).

The indicator shows changes in the population size of eight widespread bat species, based on summer field surveys and roost counts and winter hibernation counts. Population change between 1999 and 2014 is analysed using a statistical model developed by the Bat Conservation Trust.

This is one of a suite of 24 UK biodiversity indicators published by JNCC on behalf of Defra; the latest publication date was 19 January 2016 - for indicator C8 the latest data are for 2014.

BackgroundUrbanization is characterized by high levels of sealed land-cover, and small, geometrically complex, fragmented land-use patches. The extent and density of urbanized land-use is increasing, with implications for habitat quality, connectivity and city ecology. Little is known about densification thresholds for urban ecosystem function, and the response of mammals, nocturnal and cryptic taxa are poorly studied in this respect. Bats (Chiroptera) are sensitive to changing urban form at a species, guild and community level, so are ideal model organisms for analyses of this nature. Methodology/Principal FindingsWe surveyed bats around urban ponds in the West Midlands conurbation, United Kingdom (UK). Sites were stratified between five urban land classes, representing a gradient of built land-cover at the 1 km2 scale. Models for bat presence and activity were developed using land-cover and land-use data from multiple radii around each pond. Structural connectivity of tree networks was used as an indicator of the functional connectivity between habitats. All species were sensitive to measures of urban density. Some were also sensitive to landscape composition and structural connectivity at different spatial scales. These results represent new findings for an urban area. The activity of Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber 1774) exhibited a non-linear relationship with the area of built land-cover, being much reduced beyond the threshold of ∼60% built surface. The presence of tree networks appears to mitigate the negative effects of urbanization for this species. Conclusions/SignificanceOur results suggest that increasing urban density negatively impacts the study species. This has implications for infill development policy, built density targets and the compact city debate. Bats were also sensitive to the composition and structure of the urban form at a range of spatial scales, with implications for land-use planning and management. Protecting and establishing tree networks may improve the resilience of some bat populations to urban densification.

This data release contains the results from the North American Bat Monitoring Program's report titled 'Status and Trends of North American Bats Summer Occupancy Analysis 2010-2019'. Specifically, these data include tabular data and geospatial data for the species-specific results related to the status and trends of 12 bat species at multiple spatial scales including: 10 km x 10 km grid cells, state/province/territories, and range-wide across the geographic extent of monitoring data for each species (i.e., across 'modeled species ranges'). They were produced using an analytical pipeline supported by web-based infrastructure for integrating continental scale bat monitoring data (stationary acoustic, mobile acoustic, and capture records) to assess the summer (May 1–Aug 31) population status and trends of North American bat species across their modeled ranges at multiple spatial scales. An occupancy model was estimated for each species while accounting for biases from false positives ...

The greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, nursery roosts at Stackpole and Slebech, Pembrokeshire, are principal summer roosts of the West Wales population of the species which ranges through Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Gower, West Glamorgan. Monitoring the population is difficult, as for much of the year only a small percentage are accessible through winter surveys of hibernacula. Monitoring the status of the population is therefore only practical at the nursery roosts. This dataset consists of Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) surveillance results. The surveillance of the breeding productivity of Greater Horseshoe Bat i.e. numbers of young born annually occurs between June and August. The purpose of this data capture was to: - Provide information and updates to the local Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) - Assess feature conditions of greater horseshoe bats within Pembrokeshire Bat Sites Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and 3 component Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). - Contribute to the management database of the breeding population records for Greater Horseshoe Bats species recovers programme and the UK BAP species programmes.

Sequencing data generated from metabarcoding and high throughput sequencing on Illumina MiSeq of arthropod DNA in faecal smaples from Myotis escalerai and Myotis crypticus in the Iberian Peninsula in 2017. Raw sequencing data post removal of primers and low quality reads. Two different generic arthropod primers were used: ZBJ (Zeale et al. 2011, Mol. Ecol. Resour. 11: 236-244) and CFMRA (ANML; Jusino et al. 2019, Mol. Ecol. Resour. 19: 176–190).,Understanding the processes that enable species coexistence has important implications for assessing how ecological systems will respond to global change. Morphology and functional similarity increase the potential for competition, and therefore, co-occurring morphologically similar but genetically unique species are a good model system for testing coexistence mechanisms. We used DNA metabarcoding and High Throughput Sequencing to characterise for the first time the trophic ecology of two recently-described cryptic bat species with parapatric ranges, Myotis escalerai and Myotis crypticus. We collected faecal samples from allopatric and sympatric regions and from syntopic and allotopic locations within the sympatric region to describe the diets both taxonomically and functionally and compare prey consumption with prey availability. The two bat species had highly similar diets characterised by high arthropod diversity, particularly Lepidoptera, Diptera and Araneae, and a high proportion of prey that is not volant at night, which points to extensive use of gleaning. Diet overlap at the prey-item level was lower in syntopic populations, supporting trophic shift under fine-scale co-occurrence. Furthermore, the diet of M. escalerai had a marginally lower proportion of not nocturnally volant prey in syntopic populations, suggesting that the shift in diet may be driven by a change in foraging mode. Our findings suggest that fine-scale coexistence mechanisms can have implications for maintaining broad-scale diversity patterns. This study highlights the importance of including both allopatric and sympatric populations and choosing meaningful spatial scales for detecting ecological patterns. We conclude that a combination of high taxonomic resolution with a functional approach helps identify patterns of niche shift.,Dataset includes sample list with species identification and capture site location (Sample_ID_location.csv), and list of arthropod BINs identified in bat faecal samples and their presence in each of the two bat species (Novell-Fernandez_EcolEvol_Data file S1.csv).