The Itinerant Natterer: Dynamics of Summer Roost Occupancy by Myotis nattereri (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) ...

• Main Authors: Smith, Peter G., Racey, Paul A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2019
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Myotis nattereri; Natterer's bat
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13430807; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13430807

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Natterer's bat Myotis nattereri is one of the least known European bats. Understanding its patterns of movement between roosts is an important aspect of assessing the relative value of different types of roost for conservation of the species. We determined patterns of movement of Natterer's bat between roosts by radio-tracking successive animals from the same colonies during summer (May to September). For one maternity colony comprising 65 adult females, the attic of a large mediaeval church was the main roost site, accounting for 88% of radio-located bat days. The two other maternity colonies tracked comprised about 35 adult females each and used from 15 to 25 roost sites, some containing multiple roosts. For these two colonies, up to six roost sites per colony accounted for about 80% of bat occupancy days in any one summer and for each colony, roost home ranges for roosts used by subgroups of at least two bats together covered 0.4 km2. Although bats made ...