Chapter 15 Conservation Ecology of Cave Bats Neil M. Furey and Paul A. Racey Abstract Caves and other subterranean sites such as mines are critical to the sur- vival of hundreds of bat species worldwide, since they often provide shelter for most of a nation’s bat fauna. In the temperate zone, caves provide roosts for hiber- nation and for some species, breeding in summer, whereas in warmer regions, they support high species richness year round and enormous colonies that maintain substantial ecosystem services. Due to the solubility of the substrate, the highest densities of caves occur in karst landscapes. Given their importance for bats, rel- atively few studies have investigated factors involved in cave selection, although current evidence suggests that the density and size of caves are the best predictors of species diversity and population sizes. Thermal preferences have been estab- lished for some cave-dwelling species as well as their vulnerability to disturbance, particularly during hibernation and reproduction. Growth in limestone quarrying and cave tourism industries worldwide severely threatens cave-dwelling bats, in addition to loss of foraging habitat, hunting for bushmeat, incidental disturbance and disruptive guano harvesting. Apparent declines of cave bats in Europe and North America also pose serious concerns, as do global climate change predic- tions. The main conservation response to threats to cave bats in these continents N.M. Furey (*) Fauna & Flora International (Cambodia Programme), No. 19, Street 360, Boeng Keng Kang 1, PO Box 1380, Phnom Penh 12000, Cambodia e-mail:
[email protected] P.A. Racey Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK e-mail:
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