Habitat selection as a mechanism of resource partitioning in two cryptic bat species Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus ...

• Main Authors: Nicholls, Barry, A. Racey, Paul
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2006
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13443241; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13443241

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Ecomorphological studies of bat communities often reveal the spatial and temporal coexistence of morphologically similar species, leading to suggestions that these communities are structured by non‐deterministic processes. However, the diversification of echolocation call structure in bats allows for considerable morphological similarity while still permitting niche differentiation based on specialisation for prey type and habitat structure. The recent separation of a common Palaearctic bat, the pipistrelle, into Pipistrellus pipistrellus and P. pygmaeus, which are sympatrically distributed throughout their range, raises the question as to whether these two morphologically similar species partition resources in time and space. To test the hypothesis that the coexistence of these cryptic species is facilitated by differential habitat use, 14 P . pipistrellus , and 12 P. pygmaeus were radio‐tracked from adjacent maternity roosts, in northeast Scotland, from ...