Action Plan for the Conservation of All Bat Species in the European Union 2018 – 2024 October 2018 Action Plan for the Conservation of All Bat Species in the European Union 2018 - 2024 EDITORS: BAROVA Sylvia (European Commission) & STREIT Andreas (UNEP/EUROBATS) COMPILERS: MARCHAIS Guillaume & THAURONT Marc (Ecosphère, France/The N2K Group) CONTRIBUTORS (in alphabetical order): BOYAN Petrov * (Bat Research & Conservation Centre, Bulgaria) DEKKER Jasja (Animal ecologist, Netherlands) ECOSPHERE: JUNG Lise, LOUTFI Emilie, NUNINGER Lise & ROUÉ Sébastien GAZARYAN Suren (EUROBATS) HAMIDOVIĆ Daniela (State Institute for Nature Protection, Croatia) JUSTE Javier (Spanish association for the study and conservation of bats, Spain) KADLEČÍK Ján (Štátna ochrana prírody Slovenskej republiky, Slovakia) KYHERÖINEN Eeva-Maria (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Finland) HANMER Julia (Bat Conservation Trust, United Kingdom) LEIVITS Meelis (Environmental Agency of the Ministry of Environment, Estonia) MARNELl Ferdia (National Parks & Wildlife Service, Ireland) PETERMANN Ruth (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany) PETERSONS Gunărs (Latvia University of Agriculture, Latvia) PRESETNIK Primož (Centre for Cartography of Fauna and Flora, Slovenia) RAINHO Ana (Institute for the Nature and Forest Conservation, Portugal) REITER Guido (Foundation for the protection of our bats in Switzerland) RODRIGUES Luisa (Institute for the Nature and Forest Conservation, Portugal) RUSSO Danilo (University of Napoli Frederico II, Italy) SCHEMBRI GAMBIN Lisa (Malta Environment and Planning Authority) SPITZENBERGER Friederike (Batlife, Austria) SZODORAY-PARADI Abigel (Romanian Bat Protection Association, Romania) TAPIERO Audrey (Federation of the French Wildlife trusts, France) VLASAKOVA Libuse (Ministry of the Environment, Czech Republic) COVER PHOTO: Pipistrellus pipistrellus – L. Spanneut (Ecosphère) Boyan Petrov, an eminent bat expert, who will stay forever somewhere in the Himalayas’ peaks, provided an invaluable contribution to this action plan Contents 1 - BAT species and their natural history .................................................. 5 1.1 - European Bat species and their IUCN Red list status ................ 5 1.2 - Natural history of bats .................................................................. 7 1.2.1 - Evolution and Biogeography ................................................................................ 7 1.2.2 - Life cycle ................................................................................................................ 9 1.2.3 - Diet, dispersal and migration .............................................................................. 11 2 - Bat Conservation in Europe ............................................................... 15 2.1 - Conservation through the Habitats Directive and EU policies .15 2.1.1 - The Natura 2000 network and site protection provisions ................................ 15 2.1.2 - Species protection provisions ............................................................................ 17 2.1.3 - EU biodiversity strategy ...................................................................................... 17 2.1.4 - Green infrastructure ............................................................................................ 18 2.2 - UNEP/EUROBATS ........................................................................18 2.3 - NGOs and BatLife Europe ...........................................................19 2.4 - Bat Action Plans ..........................................................................19 2.4.1 - National Action Plans .......................................................................................... 19 2.4.2 - Other regional action plans ................................................................................ 20 2.4.3 - Action Plans for the conservation of bats in Europe ....................................... 21 2.5 - EUROBATS co-funded projects ..................................................21 3 - Surveillance and knowledge assessment .......................................... 22 3.1 - Introduction ..................................................................................22 3.2 - Population survey` ......................................................................22 3.2.1 - Surveillance methods .......................................................................................... 22 3.2.2 - Data analysis and compilation for roosts .......................................................... 23 3.2.3 - Daily and seasonal movements – migration ..................................................... 24 3.2.4 - Prototype pan European indicator ..................................................................... 25 3.2.5 - Autoecological studies for priority species ...................................................... 27 3.2.6 - Bat rescue and rehabilitation .............................................................................. 27 3.3 - Reporting under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive (2007- 2012): outcomes ..........................................................................28 3.4 - Gaps in biological knowledge .....................................................31 4 - Threats and conservation issues ....................................................... 33 4.1 - Loss and disturbance of roosts ..................................................33 Action Plan for the Conservation of Bat Species in the European Union – October 2018 1 4.1.1 - Underground sites ............................................................................................... 33 4.1.2 - Roosts in buildings ............................................................................................. 35 4.1.3 - Tree roosts ........................................................................................................... 42 4.2 - Commuting and foraging in fragmented landscapes ................42 4.2.1 - Land planning and fragmentation ...................................................................... 42 4.2.2 - Agricultural practices .......................................................................................... 45 4.2.3 - Forestry practices ................................................................................................ 46 4.2.4 - Light pollution ...................................................................................................... 48 4.3 - Infrastructures and mortality ......................................................49 4.3.1 - Traffic infrastructures.......................................................................................... 49 4.3.2 - Wind energy development .................................................................................. 54 4.4 - Infectious diseases ......................................................................57 4.4.1 - Infections affecting bats...................................................................................... 57 4.4.2 - Negative public opinion of bats as carriers of viruses ..................................... 58 4.5 - Misunderstandings and myths ...................................................60 4.5.1 - Ignorance .............................................................................................................. 60 4.5.2 - Educational programs ......................................................................................... 60 5 - A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION ........................................................ 61 5.1 - Vision and overall goal ................................................................61 5.2 - Targets .........................................................................................61 5.4 - Actions .........................................................................................63 Annex: Working within the framework of EUROBATS ............................................. 71 Meeting of Parties (MoP) and Secretariat .......................................................................71 Advisory Committee and Intersessional Working Groups (IWG) .................................71 Conservation and Management Plan ..............................................................................72 6 - Bibliography ....................................................................................... 74 Action Plan for the Conservation of Bat Species in the European Union – October 2018 2 List of table, figures and maps Table 1 – European species and their conservation status .................................................... 5 Table 2 – The different roost types for the European bats ....................................................10 Table 3 - Different population parameters for 5 species from Central Europe (from (7)). ......13 Table 4 – Spatial behaviour of European bat species (from (17)). ........................................14 Table 5 - Data from the Natura 2000 database (end of 2014, excluding Population category D) .........................................................................................................................................16 Table 6 – Slope, error of slope and number of sites where the species occurred; trend of species and of the combined prototype European hibernating bat indicator ........................26 Table 7 – Conservation status per biogeographical region. ..................................................29 Table 8 – Conservation status per species and biogeographical