A Triple-Isotope Approach to Predict the Breeding Origins of European Bats

Despite a commitment by the European Union to protect its migratory bat populations, conservation efforts are hindered by a poor understanding of bat migratory strategies and connectivity between breeding and wintering grounds. Traditional methods like mark-recapture are ineffective to study broad-scale bat migratory patterns. Stable hydrogen isotopes (δD) have been proven useful in establishing spatial migratory connectivity of animal populations. Before applying this tool, the method was calibrated using bat samples of known origin. Here we established the potential of δD as a robust geographical tracer of breeding origins of European bats by measuring δD in hair of five sedentary bat species from 45 locations throughout Europe. The δD of bat hair strongly correlated with well-established spatial isotopic patterns in mean annual precipitation in Europe, and therefore was highly correlated with latitude. We calculated a linear mixed-effects model, with species as random effect, linking δD of bat hair to precipitation δD of the areas of hair growth. This model can be used to predict breeding origins of European migrating bats. We used δ13C and δ15N to discriminate among potential origins of bats, and found that these isotopes can be used as variables to further refine origin predictions. A triple-isotope approach could thereby pinpoint populations or subpopulations that have distinct origins. Our results further corroborated stable isotope analysis as a powerful method to delineate animal migrations in Europe

Beaver Dams and Fallen Trees as Ecological Corridors Allowing Movements of Mammals across Water Barriers—A Case Study with the Application of Novel Substrate for Tracking Tunnels

Physical obstacles within animal habitats create barriers to individual movements. To cross those barriers, specific corridors are used, some of them created by keystone species such as Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber). Their dams on rivers may also increase habitat connectivity for terrestrial mammals, but the significance of that function has never been quantified. To investigate this, we placed tracking tunnels on beaver dams, fallen trees, and—as a control—on floating rafts. Additionally, we tested kinetic sand as a novel substrate for collecting tracks and found the paws of small mustelids precisely imprinted in that medium, allowing easy identification. However, we needed to lump all shrews and rodents smaller than water voles (Arvicola amphibius) into one category as they can only be detected but not identified. The highest mammalian activity was observed on dams, as they may provide shelter, offering protection from predators during a river crossing or permanent residence, and even the opportunity to hunt invertebrates. Slightly higher diversity was found on logs because of a higher proportion of mustelids, which select exposed locations for scent marking. Our results increase our body of knowledge about the beaver as an ecosystem engineer and provide a novel tool for the monitoring of mammal activity

Spinturnix dasycnemi (Acari: Spinturnicidae) – a poorly known Palaearctic bat mite: first records in Poland and morphometric separation from two other species of the myoti group

Spinturnix dasycnemi (Kolenati, 1856), an ectoparasite considered to be specific to rare and local bat species Myotis dasycneme (Boie, 1825), is reported for the first time in the fauna of Poland. Specimens were collected from M. dasycneme at two localities in the north and central parts of the country. In Europe, only two males of that poorly known mite species have been recorded recently from the Netherlands and Slovakia, while spinturnicids from pond bats were identified as S. andegavina and/or S. myoti in most of previous studies. The exact geographic distribution of S. dasycnemi is unknown, mainly due to the possibility of its common confusion with other mite species, but it may occur in all countries hosting populations of M. dasycneme. We show that specimens of both sexes of S. dasycnemi are morphometrically clearly separable from those of S. myoti and S. andegavina, even based on a combination of idiosoma length and dorsal shield length

Myotis brandtii

<i>Myotis brandtii</i> <p> Qafa e Malit I (42°05.565 <i>ʹ</i> N, 20°06.846 <i>ʹ</i> E, 928 m a.s.l.), 8 August 2003, 1 post-lactating ♀ ad. netted over a road in mountain mixed forest with old beech and black pine trees.</p> <p> This locality is one of the southernmost in the western Balkans. <i>Myotis brandtii</i> was previously recorded at two sites in Montenegro (Benda 2004) and, recently, also near the border with Albania in the north of Greece (Papadatou et al. 2011).</p>Published as part of <i>Sachanowicz, Konrad, Ciechanowski, Mateusz, Rachwald, Alek & Piskorski, Michał, 2015, Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species, pp. 513-521 in Journal of Natural History 50</i> on page 518, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1059962, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3985566">http://zenodo.org/record/3985566</a&gt

Myotis mystacinus

<i>Myotis mystacinus</i> <p> Gomsiqe e Epërme (41°59.015 <i>ʹ</i> N, 19°48.480 <i>ʹ</i> E, 344 m a.s.l.), 5 August 2003, 1♂ juv. netted over a river in a rocky gorge.</p> <p> Due to the discovery of <i>M. alcathoe</i> (von Helversen et al. 2001; Dietz et al. 2009) and the lack of any morphological details allowing for species identification, the only previous record of <i>M. mystacinus</i> (Uhrin et al. 1996) may have been either <i>M. mystacinus</i> sensu stricto or <i>M. alcathoe</i>.</p>Published as part of <i>Sachanowicz, Konrad, Ciechanowski, Mateusz, Rachwald, Alek & Piskorski, Michał, 2015, Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species, pp. 513-521 in Journal of Natural History 50</i> on page 518, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1059962, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3985566">http://zenodo.org/record/3985566</a&gt

Nyctalus lasiopterus

Nyctalus lasiopterus Lura National Park (41°43.039 ʹ N, 20°11.908 ʹ E, 1430 m a.s.l.), 28 June 2011, 1 sexually active ♂ ad. netted over a road in an old mountain beech forest. This record fills the large gap in the distribution of this rarely recorded species in the western Balkans, where it was previously recorded only in Croatia (Kovač et al. 2011) and Greece (Hanák et al. 2001). As N. lasiopterus depends strongly on old hollow trees for roosting (Estók et al. 2007), it may be restricted to difficult-to-access mountain locations in Albania due to the heavy deforestation of lowland areas (Habili et al. 1997).Published as part of Sachanowicz, Konrad, Ciechanowski, Mateusz, Rachwald, Alek & Piskorski, Michał, 2015, Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species, pp. 513-521 in Journal of Natural History 50 on pages 518-519, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1059962, http://zenodo.org/record/398556

Pipistrellus pipistrellus pipistrellus

Pipistrellus pipistrellus Gomsiqe e Epërme (location same as above), 6 August 2003, 1 non-lactating ♀ ad. netted over a river in a rocky gorge. Syri i Kalter I (39°55.440 ʹ N, 20°11.564 ʹ E, 175 m a.s.l.), 23 April 2004, time-expanded echolocation calls of commuting individuals recorded over a karstic spring surrounded by a riparian woodland with oriental plane. The frequency of maximum energy was 43.2–44.5 (mean 44.2, n = 7), and the probability of correct species identification by iBatsID software was 0.93–0.99 (mean 0.97). Due to the separation of P. pipistrellus and P. pygmaeus (Barratt et al. 1997; Dietz et al. 2009) and the lack of any characters allowing for species identification, the only previous record (Uhrin et al. 1996) has to be assigned to P. pipistrellus sensu lato (Sachanowicz et al. 2006). Although scarcely known until 2003 (21 species and unidentified representatives of three species complexes), the bat fauna of Albania is presently adequately surveyed with 32 recorded species. Our research has confirmed that Albania is one of the European countries with the highest bat species richness. In the geographic Balkans, where 35 bat species are known (Dietz and Kiefer 2014), a greater or equal number of species has only been recorded in Bulgaria with 33 species if an acoustic record of Myotis dasycneme (Boie, 1825) over the Danube river is included (Benda et al. 2003; Mayer et al. 2007; Niermann et al. 2007) and continental Greece with 32 species (Hanák et al. 2001; Mayer et al. 2007). For two of the rarest European bats, R. mehelyi and N. lasiopterus, but also for M. brandtii, Pl. kolombatovici and B. barbastellus, we greatly extended their known geographic ranges in the south of Europe (Dietz et al. 2009). The previous record of M. nattereri in Albania (Chytil and Vlašín 1994) was most probably of this species, which is the only representative of the M. nattereri complex confirmed in the Balkans so far (Salicini et al. 2013). Of the two Balkan species not recorded in Albania, Eptesicus nilssonii is only known from single localities in Bulgaria (Benda et al. 2003) and Croatia (Pavlinić and Tvrtković 2003) whereas the known range of M. aurascens (sensu Mayer et al. 2007) covers only a small area of northeast Bulgaria and extends to Romania, Ukraine and Russia (Dietz and Kiefer 2014).Published as part of Sachanowicz, Konrad, Ciechanowski, Mateusz, Rachwald, Alek & Piskorski, Michał, 2015, Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species, pp. 513-521 in Journal of Natural History 50 on page 519, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1059962, http://zenodo.org/record/398556

Plecotus kolombatovici Dulic 1980

<i>Plecotus kolombatovici</i> <p>Pishkash II (location same as above), 28 September 2005, 1 sexually active ♂ ad. netted at the entrance of a small cave in a limestone gorge. The morphological identification of this species was confirmed by genetic analysis (A. Kiefer, pers. comm.).</p> <p> The two records of bats from the genus <i>Plecotus</i> (Lamani 1970) could not be assigned to any particular species because of the lack of a detailed description and measurements. For the supposed <i>Pl. kolombatovici</i> record from the Treni Cave, at the Micro Prespa Lake in Albania (24–25 September 2012), no evidence has been provided to support the species identification and exclusion of other <i>Plecotus</i> species (Scheffler et al. 2013). <i>Plecotus kolombatovici</i> has one of the smallest geographic ranges among the European bats; it has only been confirmed in Greece and along the Adriatic coast of Croatia (Đulić 1980; Spitzenberger et al. 2006). The supposed records from Bosnia and Herzegovina are based on external and cranial measurements (Đulić 1980; Červený and Kryštufek 1988) and apparently require confirmation with genetic methods. This new Albanian record indicates a wider occurrence of this species in the southwestern Balkans and its syntopic presence with <i>Pl. austriacus</i>.</p>Published as part of <i>Sachanowicz, Konrad, Ciechanowski, Mateusz, Rachwald, Alek & Piskorski, Michał, 2015, Overview of bat species reported in Albania with the first country records for eight species, pp. 513-521 in Journal of Natural History 50</i> on page 518, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2015.1059962, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/3985566">http://zenodo.org/record/3985566</a&gt