Spatial and temporal patterns of roost use by tree-dwelling barbastelle bats Barbastella barbastellus

We evaluated the spatial and temporal patterns of roost switching behaviour by a tree-dwelling population of barbastelle bats Barbastella barbastellus in a beech forest of central Italy. Switching behaviour was common to both sexes and did not depend on group size. We observed both individual and group switching, the latter often involving the abandonment of a roost tree on a single night. We suggest that behaviours such as flight activity around roosts or cavity inspection by bats play a role in recruiting group mates and coordinating their occupation of another site. Bats almost never crossed mountain ridges to use roosts located beyond them, possibly because ridges are regarded as boundaries delimiting main roosting areas. The rate of switching was lowest during the middle of the lactation period, probably to minimise problems related to the transportation of non-volant young by their mothers. Although the maintenance of social relationship among bats spread over large forest areas may partly explain the occurrence of roost switching, the persistence of this behaviour in solitary bats and the movement of entire groups best fit the hypothesis that roost switching represents a way to maintain or increase knowledge of alternative roosts.

[1]  S. Mazzoleni,et al.  Roost selection by barbastelle bats ( Barbastella barbastellus , Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in beech woodlands of central Italy , 2003 .

[2]  J. Altringham.  Bats: Biology and Behaviour , 1996 .

[3]  R. Brigham,et al.  Roost switching, roost sharing and social cohesion: forest-dwelling big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, conform to the fission–fusion model , 2004, Animal Behaviour.

[4]  B. Chruszcz,et al.  Thermoregulatory ecology of a solitary bat, Myotis evotis, roosting in rock crevices , 2002 .

[5]  R. Brigham,et al.  Roosting Behavior and Roost-Site Preferences of Forest-Dwelling California Bats (Myotis californicus) , 1997 .

[6]  S. Lewis,et al.  Low roost-site fidelity in pallid bats: associated factors and effect on group stability , 1996, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[7]  Colin F. J. O'Donnell,et al.  Use of Roosts by the Long-Tailed Bat, Chalinolobus tuberculatus, in Temperate Rainforest in New Zealand , 1999 .

[8]  Η. Ammar.  THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMUNITY , 1970 .

[9]  S. C. Weeker.  HABITAT SELECTION. , 1964, Scientific American.

[10]  S. Lewis.  Roost Fidelity of Bats: A Review , 1995 .

[11]  P. Racey,et al.  Timing of foraging flights of three species of bats in relation to insect activity and predation risk , 1996 .

[12]  B. Verboom,et al.  The importance of linear landscape elements for the pipistrellePipistrellus pipistrellus and the serotine batEptesicus serotinus , 1997, Landscape Ecology.

[13]  G. Kerth,et al.  Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) reveals that female Bechstein’s bats live in closed societies , 2000, Molecular ecology.

[14]  D. Russo,et al.  Habitat selection by the Mediterranean horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus euryale (Chiroptera: Rhinolophidae) in a rural area of southern Italy and implications for conservation , 2002 .

[15]  G. Kerth,et al.  Roosting together, foraging apart: information transfer about food is unlikely to explain sociality in female Bechstein's bats (Myotis bechsteinii) , 2001, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[16]  Jane A. Sedgeley.  Quality of cavity microclimate as a factor influencing selection of maternity roosts by a tree-dwelling bat, Chalinolobus tuberculatus, in New Zealand , 2001 .

[17]  T. Kunz.  Roosting Ecology of Bats , 1982 .

[18]  Colin F. J. O'Donnell,et al.  Cryptic local populations in a temperate rainforest bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus in New Zealand , 2000 .

[19]  A. Sierro.  Habitat selection by barbastelle bats (Barbastella barbastellus) in the Swiss Alps (Valais) , 1999 .

[20]  G. Kerth,et al.  FISSION, FUSION AND NONRANDOM ASSOCIATIONS IN FEMALE BECHSTEIN'S BATS (MYOTIS BECHSTEINII) , 1999 .

[21]  L. Rodrigues,et al.  Contrasting the roosting behaviour and phenology of an insectivorous bat (Myotis myotis) in its southern and northern distribution ranges , 2003 .

[22]  G. Wilkinson.  The social organization of the common vampire bat , 1985, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[23]  M. S. Cumming,et al.  Habitat separation in a species-rich assemblage of jumping spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in a suburban study site in Zimbabwe , 2004 .

[24]  M. Fenton.  Roosts used by the African bat, Scotophilus leucogaster (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) , 1983 .

[25]  D. Forgays,et al.  Crucial periods for free-environmental experience in the rat. , 1962, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology.

[26]  T. Marquès-Bonet,et al.  Rivers as possible landmarks in the orientation flight of Miniopterus schreibersii , 2000 .

[27]  A. Zahn,et al.  Ectoparasite load in European vespertilionid bats , 2004 .

[28]  W. Walankiewicz,et al.  Nest Predation as a Limiting Factor to the Breeding Population Size of the Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis in the Białowieża National Park (NE Poland) , 2002 .

[29]  R. Brigham.  Flexibility in foraging and roosting behaviour by the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) , 1991 .

[30]  J. Speakman,et al.  Climate-mediated energetic constraints on the distribution of hibernating mammals , 2002, Nature.

[31]  P. Racey,et al.  Microchiropteran bats : global status survey and conservation action plan , 2001 .

[32]  Mary Poss,et al.  Social Organization and Parasite Risk in Mammals: Integrating Theory and Empirical Studies , 2003 .

[33]  Edwin E. Lewis,et al.  Biology and behaviour. , 2005 .

[34]  R. Barclay,et al.  Year-to-year Reuse of Tree-roosts by California Bats (Myotis californicus) in Southern British Columbia , 2001 .

[35]  R. Barclay,et al.  Roost-site selection and roosting ecology of forest-dwelling bats in southern British Columbia , 1996 .

[36]  B. Law,et al.  Roost preferences and foraging ranges of the eastern forest bat Vespadelus pumilus under two disturbance histories in northern New South Wales, Australia , 2000 .

[37]  G. Wilkinson.  The social organization of the common vampire bat , 1985, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[38]  Gerald Kerth,et al.  Information transfer about roosts in female Bechstein's bats: an experimental field study , 2003, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[39]  C. Jaberg,et al.  Spatio-temporal utilisation of roosts by the parti-coloured bat Vespertilio murinus L., 1758 in Switzerland , 2003 .

[40]  R. Brigham,et al.  Medium- and Long-Term Reuse of Trembling Aspen Cavities as Roosts by Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) , 2003 .

[41]  S. Mazzoleni,et al.  Roost selection by barbastelle bats (Barbastella barbastellus, Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in beech woodlands of central Italy: consequences for conservation , 2004 .

[42]  Ecological , Behavioural , and Thermal Observations of a Peripheral Population of Indiana Bats , .