Activity pattern and fat accumulation strategy of the Natterer’s bat (Vespertilionidae, Chiroptera) swarming population indicate the exact time of male mating effort

Studies concerning bat autumn swarming behavior suggest that the main purpose of this phenomenon is mating. However, the process of fat accumulation is crucial for surviving winter, and it seems to be in clear conflict with a need to strive for the opportunity to mate prior to hibernation. Investment in one activity limits the other one creating a trade-off between them. The aim of our study was to describe the activity pattern of each sex-age group (adult males, adult females, subadults) of the Natterer’s bat during swarming period and to investigate the fat accumulation process of adult males in the context of their reproductive strategy. Bats were captured by mist nets at the swarming site fortnightly from the early August until the late November. The age, sex, reproductive status, and body condition index (mass to forearm ratio, BCI) were recorded. The activity peak of both sexes, adults, and subadults was observed in the late September. That time in season, BCI of adult males was the lowest, and there was no correlation between the hour of an adult male capture and its BCI value within one night (rs = 0.23; p = 0.157). Such correlation was observed later in the season (early October: rs = 0.44; p = 0.020; late October: rs = 0.48; p = 0.002). A negative correlation between adult males’ BCI and proportion of adult females was found (r = 0.44; p = 0.000). We conclude that the activity peak of females is likely to be responsible for the effort of the mating behavior of the males, which is reflected by their low condition index. We suggest that the gleaning foraging strategy of Natterer’s bat allows the males to postpone their fat accumulation until just before hibernation

Climate is changing, are European bats too?:A multispecies analysis of trends in body size

Animal size, a trait sensitive to spatial and temporal variables, is a key element in ecological and evolutionary dynamics. In the context of climate change, there is evidence that some bat species are increasing their body size via phenotypic responses to higher temperatures at maternity roosts. To test the generality of this response, we conducted a &gt;20-year study examining body size changes in 15 bat species in Italy, analysing data from 4393 individual bats captured since 1995. In addition to examining the temporal effect, we considered the potential influence of sexual dimorphism and, where relevant, included latitude and altitude as potential drivers of body size change. Contrary to initial predictions of a widespread increase in size, our findings challenge this assumption, revealing a nuanced interplay of factors contributing to the complexity of bat body size dynamics. Specifically, only three species (Myotis daubentonii, Nyctalus leisleri, and Pipistrellus pygmaeus) out of the 15 exhibited a discernible increase in body size over the studied period, prompting a reassessment of bats as reliable indicators of climate change based on alterations in body size. Our investigation into influencing factors highlighted the significance of temperature-related variables, with latitude and altitude emerging as crucial drivers. In some cases, this mirrored patterns consistent with Bergmann's rule, revealing larger bats recorded at progressively higher latitudes (Plecotus auritus, Myotis mystacinus, and Miniopterus schreibersii) or altitudes (Pipistrellus kuhlii). We also observed a clear sexual dimorphism effect in most species, with females consistently larger than males. The observed increase in size over time in three species suggests the occurrence of phenotypic plasticity, raising questions about potential long-term selective pressures on larger individuals. The unresolved question of whether temperature-related changes in body size reflect microevolutionary processes or phenotypic plastic responses adds further complexity to our understanding of body size patterns in bats over time and space.<br/

The impact of major warming at 14.7 ka on environmental changes and activity of Final Palaeolithic hunters at a local scale (Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin, Western Carpathians, Poland

There is a widespread belief that the abrupt warming at 14.7 ka had a profound impact on the environment. However, the direct correlation between the global climatic event and changes in local environments is not obvious.We examined faunal succession in an intra-mountain basin of theWestern Carpathians to assess the potential influence of the climatic change between Greenland Stadial-2a and Greenland Interstadial-1e on the local environment.We investigated three vertebrate assemblages (total number of identified specimens = 18,745; minimumnumber of individuals = 7515; 138 taxa) from Obłazowa Cave (western entrance) and a Rock overhang in Cisowa Rock, radiocarbon dated to the period before and after the global warming, between ca. 17.0 and 14.0 ka. Our data revealed that the major abrupt warming that occurred 14.7 ka had little impact on the local environment, which could suggest that ecosystems in Central Europe were resilient to the abrupt global climate changes. The increase in fauna population sizes and species diversities in local biotopes was gradual and began long before the temperature increase. This was supported by the analysis of ancient DNA of Microtus arvalis, which showed a gradual increase in effective population size after 19.0 ka. The results of palaeoclimatic reconstruction pointed out that the compared sites were characterized by similar climatic conditions. According to our calculations, the differences in the annual mean temperatures did not exceed 0.5 °C and mean annual thermal amplitude changed from 22.9 to 22.4 °C. The environmental changes before 14.7 ka had no impact on the activity of Final Palaeolithic hunters in the studied area

Isolation and genome characterization of Lloviu virus from Italian Schreibers’ bent-winged bats

13 Pág.Lloviu cuevavirus (LLOV) was the first identified member of Filoviridae family outside the Ebola and Marburgvirus genera. A massive die-off of Schreibers’ bent-winged bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) in the Iberian Peninsula in 2002 led to its discovery. Studies with recombinant and wild-type LLOV isolates confirmed the susceptibility of human-derived cell lines and primary human macrophages to LLOV infection in vitro. Based on these data, LLOV is now considered as a potential zoonotic virus with unknown pathogenicity to humans and bats. We examined bat samples from Italy for the presence of LLOV in an area outside of the currently known distribution range of the virus. We detected one positive sample from 2020, sequenced the complete coding sequence of the viral genome and established an infectious isolate of the virus. In addition, we performed the first comprehensive evolutionary analysis of the virus, using the Spanish, Hungarian and the Italian sequences. The most important achievement of this article is the establishment of an additional infectious LLOV isolate from a bat sample using the SuBK12-08 cells, demonstrating that this cell line is highly susceptible to LLOV infection. These results further confirms the role of these bats as the host of this virus, possibly throughout their entire geographic range. This is an important result to further understand the role of bats as the natural hosts for zoonotic filoviruses.This work was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, Hungary under grants NKFIH FK131465 (G.K.) and FK137778 (T.G.), and RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00010; and the National Institutes of Health under grant R21AI169646 (E.M.). T.G. was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.N

Radiocarbon dating of fossil bats from Dobšina Ice Cave (Slovakia) and potential palaeoclimatic implications

Although Dobšina Ice Cave (DIC, Carpathians, Slovakia) is located outside the high-mountain area, it hosts one of the most extensive blocks of perennial subterranean ice, the volume of which is estimated at more than 110,000 m^{3}. Frozen bat remains were found in the lowermost part of the perennial ice block. They belong to Myotis blythii (Tomes) and the M. mystacinus morpho-group. The radiocarbon dating of bat soft tissues yielded ages of 1266-1074 cal. yr BP and 1173-969 cal. yr BP. The undetermined bat, found in the same part of the ice section in 2002, was previously dated at 1178-988 cal. yr BP (Clausen et al., 2007). The dates testify that the ice crystallized at the turn of the Dark Ages Cold Period and the Medieval Warm Period. The calculated accumulation rate of cave ice varies between 0.7 cm/year and 1.4 cm/year at that time, and is similar to the present ice accumulation rate in DIC. Constant crystallization of ice during the Medieval Warm Period is hypothesized to reflect dry summer seasons since the supply of relatively warm water in the summer is one of the key factors causing the erosion of cave ice. The uppermost sample was covered with 20.6 m of ice. Between ca 1065 cal. yr BP and the present day, the ice grew faster than between ca 1210 yr BP and ca 1065 yr BP by a factor of 1.3-1.8. This may have resulted from conditions favourable for ice accumulation during the Little Ice Age

Shelter in Smoleń III - A unique example of stratified Holocene clastic cave sediments in Central Europe, a lithostratigraphic stratotype and a record of regional paleoecology.

A cave site Shelter in Smoleń III (southern Poland) contains an approximately 2-m-thick stratified sequence of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene clastic sediments, unique for Central Europe. The sequence contents abundant fossil fauna, including mollusk, rodent and bat remains. The cave sites with long profiles of subfossil fauna present a great value for reconstructions of regional terrestrial paleoenvironment. We explore the stratigraphy of this site through analyses of the lithology and geochemistry of sediments, radiocarbon dating of faunal and human remains and charcoals, and archaeological study, as well as the paleoecology derived from the taxonomic composition of fossil faunal assemblages. Our data show that the entire period of the Holocene is recorded in the rockshelter, which makes that site an exceptional and highly valuable case. We present paleoenvironmental reconstructions of regional importance, and we propose to regard Shelter in Smoleń III as a regional stratigraphic stratotype of Holocene clastic cave sediments

Small and large mammals from the Ciota Ciara cave (Borgosesia, Vercelli, Italy): An Isotope Stage 5 assemblage

The Ciota Ciara cave is located within the Monte Fenera karst system (Borgosesia, Vercelli, Italy) at 670 m a.s.l. The cave entrance presents a deposit with Mousterian quartz and flint industry. The faunal remains from Stratigraphic Units 13, 14 and 103 are the subject of this work and are presented here as a whole for the first time. The large mammal assemblage is dominated by Ursus spelaeus. In addition, a few remains of carnivores such as Panthera leo spelaea, Panthera pardus, Meles meles have been found together with ungulates such as Cervus elaphus and Rupicapra rupicapra. The small mammal assemblage is characterized by a high biodiversity, especially in bats, by the dominance of Clethrionomys glareolus and by a relatively large number of Pliomys coronensis, a species that seems to disappear from the Italian Peninsula at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 5 or during the beginning of MIS 4. The changes in frequency of the small and large mammals between the two S.U. suggest a change from a relatively cold-humid (S.U. 14) to a warmer-still humid climate (S.U. 13). Although no radiometric dates are available yet, the small and large mammal assemblages, the presence of Pliomys coronensis and the climate change inferred by the variation of the small mammal frequencies allow us to correlate these two units of the Ciota Ciara cave to a relatively warm moment of Marine Isotope Stage 5

Late Glacial and Holocene paleoecology and paleoenvironmental changes in the northern Carpathians foreland : the Żarska Cave (southern Poland) case study

The study of past environments, their ecology, and detailed changes through time has become an important task of environmental science. Records of paleoenvironment usually vary between regions owing to different influences of local climate, vegetation, relief, and depositional processes. Therefore, studying local sequences thoroughly allows paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstructions for particular regions, but it also provides important data that complement the global record. The Żarska Cave is an exceptional site, which owing to its thick and undisturbed Holocene sediments with very rich paleobotanical and paleozoological materials has become the most complete example of the uppermost Upper Pleistocene and Holocene cave deposits in the Polish uplands. The aim of our study was to understand paleoenvironmental changes in southern Poland, from the late Glacial to the late Holocene, which has been targeted by use of a detailed geological analysis accompanied by analysis of a wide range of paleobotanical, paleozoological, and archeological assemblages. All the results obtained have permitted characterization of the paleoenvironmental changes occurring in the area of the Polish Jura during the last >15 ka years. A particularly well-represented sequence covers the Allerød interstadial, which revealed the presence of forests with associated shade-loving mollusks and rodents. The beginning of the Holocene was clearly identified with an increase of shaded forest habitats, which developed in a still relatively cold climate with continental features, and with the first appearance of mesophilous deciduous trees. During the middle Holocene, unusual evidence for maple forests is documented, which developed before the formation of beech forests, typical for the late Holocene. The obtained sequence has great significance not only for the Polish Jura region, but also has wider implications for southern Poland and the vast area of the northern Carpathian foreland