Structure of Summer Bat Assemblages in Forests in European Russia

Turkish Journal of Zoology Turk J Zool (2016) 40: http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/ © TÜBİTAK Research Article doi:10.3906/zoo-1508-56 Structure of summer bat assemblages in forests in European Russia 1, 1 1 Anton VLASCHENKO *, Kseniia KRAVCHENKO , Alona PRYLUTSKA , 3 4 Elena IVANCHEVA2, Elena SITNIKOVA , Alexander MISHIN 1 Bat Rehabilitation Center of Feldman Ecopark, Lesnoe, Kharkiv Region, Ukraine 2 Scientific Department, Oksky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Spassk-Ryazansky, Russia 3 Scientific Department, “Bryansky Les” State Biosphere Nature Reserve, Bryansk, Russia 4 Scientific Department, Voronezhsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve, Voronezh, Russia Received: 31.08.2015 Accepted/Published Online: 18.01.2016 Final Version: 00.00.2016 Abstract: We used mist-netting to study summer bat assemblages in 3 state nature biosphere reserves in the European part of Russia from 26 June to 29 July 2013: Oksky, Ryazan region (54°44′N, 40°54′E); Voronezhsky, Voronezh region (51°55′N, 39°38′E); and “Bryansky Les”, Bryansk region (52°27′N, 33°53′E). The main research efforts were in locations where Nyctalus lasiopterus had been captured in the past. In total, 1229 specimens of 12 bat species (Myotis daubentonii, M. dasycneme, M. brandtii, M. mystacinus, Nyctalus noctula, N. lasiopterus, N. leisleri, Eptesicus serotinus, Pipistrellus nathusii, P. pygmaeus, Vespertilio murinus, and Plecotus auritus) were caught. N. lasiopterus (a female subadult) was confirmed only in the Voronezhsky Reserve. The bat assemblages could be classified as forest- dwelling and dominated by long-distance migratory species (genera Nyctalus, Pipistrellus, and Vespertilio). Females also dominated and breeding was recorded for most of the species. The highest bat abundance (b/h index: 4.54) was in the Voronezhsky Reserve (the most southeasterly location) and the lowest (b/h index: 1.75) was in “Bryansky Les” (the most southwesterly location). The Shannon–Wiener index was higher in the Voronezhsky and Oksky Reserves but the evenness index was similar for all reserves. Bat assemblage structure in strictly protected forest areas (such as the Voronezhsky Reserve) has been stable for decades. Key words: Bats, Chiroptera, summer assemblage, relative abundance, sex ratio, Nyctalus lasiopterus, Myotis mystacinus, European Russia, forest reserves 1. Introduction dwelling European bat species (e.g., N. lasiopterus) have Currently there is a lack of available information about wide distributions. bat distribution in the east of Europe. Most information In this paper we present the results of a study of the is in Russian and often in journals not widely available current status of N. lasiopterus in European Russia, focusing internationally (e.g., Strelkov and Il’in, 1990; Il’in et al., on those localities where the species was previously 2002; Gashchak et al., 2013). Such an information gap recorded. We used a mist-netting protocol based on that results in a misconception by Western Europe researchers previously used by Vlaschenko and Gukasova (2009, about the distribution, species richness, and status of bats 2010), Gukasova and Vlaschenko (2011), Gukasova et al. in the “vast expanses of Russia”. The most typical example (2011), and Prylutska (2014) to assess species presence of an inaccurate distribution map is with the range of in 3 forest biosphere reserves (Voronezhsky, “Bryansky Nyctalus lasiopterus (Schreber, 1780) in the reviews Les”, and Oksky) in the European part of Russia. Applying of European bats published by Dietz et al. (2009) and the same data collection protocol (working team, time Battersby (2010). Thus, the European range of the species of survey, research duration, etc.) allowed us to compile in Ukraine, Russia, and southeastern Belarus is presented comprehensive information about the species present, as continuous, whereas the range in the west is presented their relative abundance and status, population structure, as patchy and based on real occurrence. One reason for etc. inaccurate bat distribution maps is the lack of current All 3 reserves have the same conservation status as data, but there is also an incorrect view that Russia is strictly protected areas and are included in the international continuously covered by natural woodlands, marshes, and network of biosphere reserves. Oksky and Voronezhsky are meadows, leading to the assumption that the rarest forest- among the oldest reserves in the former Soviet Union and * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 VLASCHENKO et al. / Turk J Zool have been protected for more than 80 years, but “Bryansky 2. Materials and methods Les” is less than 30 years old. Bat studies were carried out 2.1. Study area and study sites in “Bryansky Les” only in the last decade (Sitnikova et al., 2.1.1. Voronezhsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve 2009), whereas in the Oksky Reserve the main bat studies The Voronezhsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (51°44′N, were undertaken at the end of the 1980s (Ivancheva and 39°34′E) is located in the Voronezh region, 450 km south- Ivanchev, 2000). The Voronezhsky Reserve was the main southeast of Moscow (Figure 1). It was established in 1923. area for the study of the ecology of forest-dwelling species and ringing of bats in the territory of the former Soviet The reserve is in a forest-steppe nature zone and covers Union in the middle of the 20th century (Panutin, 1970, 31,053 ha of the northern part of a large forest area named 1980). Recaptures of ringed bats from the Voronezhsky “Usmansky Bor” (a pine forest on the Usman River) with Reserve provided examples of connectivity between an area of 63,100 ha. The “Usmansky Bor” is a large forest summer breeding areas and the wintering sites for long- island surrounded by agricultural landscapes (fields and distance migratory bats (genera Nyctalus, Pipistrellus, meadows) and settlements. The reserve ranges from 90 and Vespertilio) (Hutterer et al., 2005). It was discovered to 170 m a.s.l. Two small rivers, the Usman and Ivnitsa, that bats migrated from the Voronezhsky Reserve to the flow though the reserve. The southwest corner of the Russian Caucasus, the Ukrainian Crimea, and the Black reserve borders the large Voronezh River. The main habitat Sea coastal region, and to countries in central and southern type is mixed pine (Pinus sylvestris) and oak (Quercus Europe (Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc.) (Panutin, 1980; robur) forest, which dominates the elevated part of the Hutterer et al., 2005). Strelkov (1997) noted that the reserve. In the floodplains and lowlands the forests have woodlands of Eastern Europe were the main breeding predominantly deciduous tree species such as alder (Alnus core of long-distance migratory bats found in Central glutinosa), aspen (Populus tremula), and birch (Betula Europe. This meant that bats breeding in all of these pendula) (Zharkov and Lavrov, 1970). reserves (not only Voronezhsky) could move to Central The reserve was the main research area for studying European countries for hibernation. Currently, there is forest-dwelling bats in the former Soviet Union. These pressure on breeding populations through habitat loss and studies lasted from the 1930s (Lavrov and Lavrov, 1938) fragmentation and natural selection losses over the long to the beginning of the 1970s (Panutin, 1970). After the migration routes. There is also a new threat to populations 1990s the research activity diminished. Bats were smoked of long-distance migratory bats that has appeared in the out from tree hollows and roost sites in houses and caught last decade. This is the threat from wind turbines that can by hand using fishing nets, sweep nets, and, rarely, the kill hundreds of thousands of bats, predominantly of the old type of bird-catching net. Roost sites were located by genera Pipistrellus and Nyctalus, and mainly in the period the sounds produced by the bats (Panutin, 1970). During of autumn migration (Rydell et al., 2010; Lehnert et al., the period of the main research activity, nearly 10,000 2014; Voigt et al., 2015). There are many papers describing individuals of 10 species were caught: Myotis dasycneme bat mortality through collisions with wind turbines in Boie, 1825; Myotis nattereri Kuhl, 1817; M. mystacinus s.l., Central (e.g., Rydell et al., 2010; Voigt et al., 2015) and Nyctalus leisleri Kuhl, 1817; Nyctalus noctula Schreber, South Europe (e.g., Măntoiu et al., 2015), in regions of 1774; N. lasiopterus; Pipistrellus pipistrellus s.l.; P. nathusii bat wintering and on migration routes. However, there is Keyserling & Blasius, 1839; Vespertilio murinus Linnaeus, no current information on the situation in breeding bat 1758; and Plecotus auritus Linnaeus, 1758. Additionally, populations in the east in response to mass mortality in Myotis daubentonii Kuhl, 1817 was noted in the current list Southwest Europe and particularly how it may affect year- of vertebrate species (Sapelnikov, 2008). Another species, round fitness. Indeed, the one season of observations of bat Eptesicus serotinus Schreber, 1774, was recorded in 1987 assemblages that we present is insufficient for estimating (Lavrov, 1987). There have been 4 records of N. lasiopterus population trends, but the results provide an indication of (on 16 June 1936, 28 May 1941, and 3 May 1961, and in the status of breeding bat populations in the east of Europe May 1962), and 14 individuals have been caught in total and establish a reference point for the future assessment of (Panutin, 1969). population changes. The climate is moderately continental with cold, Our research aimed to: 1) display the results of a study temperate winters and warm summers. The average yearly of N. lasiopterus occurrence in reserves; 2) compare the temperature is 5.3 °С. Average monthly temperature varies current structure of the bat assemblage in the Voronezhsky from –9.9 °С in January to 19.5 °С in July. The absolute Reserve obtained by mist-netting to that obtained by minimum is –42 °С and the absolute maximum is 40 °С. standard methods in the middle of the 20th century; and The period without freezing weather averages 133 days per 3) describe the current structure of the bat assemblage as a year.

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