Reappraising the use of forearm rings for bat species

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABLong-term mark-recapture studies are essential for bat conservation. Over the last decades, millions of bats across Europe and America have been marked with forearm rings for this purpose. Although it is considered a cost-effective method compared to Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT) tags, direct injuries from using forearm rings have been reported since their very first use. Yet, their impact on bats' welfare has not been systematically evaluated and remains a highly controversial issue among the scientific community and policymakers. Here we assess the impact of forearm rings and PIT tags on the health of different bat species. We reviewed 12 years of the existing recapture data of free-ranging bats from NE Spain and evaluated the impact of both marking tools in a captive colony of Carollia perspicillata, by assessing the development of skin lesions and levels of cortisol metabolites in guano (CG) after marking. We report that 55.1 % (435/790) of the recaptured free-ranging bats with forearm rings presented skin lesions. All banded C. perspicillata (n = 22, 100 %) developed skin lesions, whereas none of the PIT-tagged (n = 21) presented lesions. Levels of CG were significantly higher after marking with forearm rings only for one group. Banded C. perspicillata exhibited discomfort-associated behaviours due to forearm rings. Under the "precautionary principle", we recommend the ban of forearm rings for all bat species until species-specific studies under controlled conditions are performed and approved by a legally constituted ethics committee. Consideration of other long-term marking tools is mandatory to align with global bat conservation strategies

La gestió forestal com a eina de conservació pel gall fer (Tetrao urogallus).

Curs 2018-2019En els últims anys, s’ha discutit i exigit sobre la necessitat de disposar d’unes directrius que recullin la direcció dels tractaments silvícoles per a la conservació de l’hàbitat del gall fer a nivell pirinenc. Aquest treball es centra en avaluar els resultats d’unes aclarides mixtes d’intensitat moderada realitzades en tres comarques catalanes (Pallars Sobirà, Alt Urgell i Ripollès), per afavorir un recobriment de capçades que permeti el pas de llum per al creixement i fructificació de nabiu (Vaccinium myrtillus) millorant així l’acollida del gall fer (Tetrao urogallus), en especial de les femelles amb polls, i a la vegada, reforçar la presència d’arbres grans, amb major brancada. També s’ha estudiat l’ús i la freqüentació del gall fer i altres espècies d’interès en les parcel·les tractades. Els resultats obtinguts mostren una relació positiva entre aquest tipus de tractament silvícola i l’evolució del nabiu, com també evidències reproductives en les zones tractades.In recent years, there has been discussion and demand for the need to have guidelines that collect the direction of silvicultural treatments for the conservation of the habitat of the capercaillie in the Pyrenees. This work focuses on evaluating the results of mixed thinnings of moderate intensity carried out in three Catalan regions (Pallars Sobirà, Alt Urgell and Ripollès), in order to favour a crown covering that allows the passage of light for the growth and fructification of the bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), thus improving the reception of the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), especially of females with chicks, and at the same time, reinforcing the presence of large trees with greater branches. The use and frequentation of the capercaillie and other species of interest in the treated plots has also been studied. The results obtained show a positive relationship between these types of silvicultural treatments and the evolution of the bilberry, as well as reproductive evidence in the treated areas

The fecal bacterial microbiome of the Kuhl's pipistrelle bat (Pipistrellus kuhlii) reflects landscape anthropogenic pressure

Anthropogenic disturbance has the potential to negatively affect wildlife health by altering food availability and diet composition, increasing the exposure to agrochemicals, and intensifying the contact with humans, domestic animals, and their pathogens. However, the impact of these factors on the fecal microbiome composition of wildlife hosts and its link to host health modulation remains barely explored. Here we investigated the composition of the fecal bacterial microbiome of the insectivorous bat Kuhl's pipistrelle (Pipistrellus kuhlii) dwelling in four environmental contexts with different levels of anthropogenic pressure. We analyzed their microbiome composition, structure and diversity through full-length 16S rRNA metabarcoding using the nanopore long-read sequencer MinION™. We hypothesized that the bacterial community structure of fecal samples would vary across the different scenarios, showing a decreased diversity and richness in samples from disturbed ecosystems. The fecal microbiomes of 31 bats from 4 scenarios were sequenced. A total of 4,829,302 reads were obtained with a taxonomic assignment percentage of 99.9% at genus level. Most abundant genera across all scenarios were Enterococcus, Escherichia/Shigella, Bacillus and Enterobacter. Alpha diversity varied significantly between the four scenarios (p < 0.05), showing the lowest Shannon index in bats from urban and intensive agriculture landscapes, while the highest alpha diversity value was found in near pristine landscapes. Beta diversity obtained by Bray-Curtis distance showed weak statistical differentiation of bacterial taxonomic profiles among scenarios. Furthermore, core community analysis showed that 1,293 genera were shared among localities. Differential abundance analyses showed that the highest differentially abundant taxa were found in near pristine landscapes, with the exception of the family Alcaligenaceae, which was also overrepresented in urban and intensive agriculture landscapes. This study suggests that near pristine and undisturbed landscapes could promote a more resilient gut microbiome in wild populations of P. kuhlii. These results highlight the potential of the fecal microbiome as a non-invasive bioindicator to assess insectivorous bats' health and as a key element of landscape conservation strategies. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42523-023-00229-9