Living above the treeline: roosting ecology of the alpine bat Plecotus macrobullaris

摘要: Littleis known about the alpinebat community, but recent studies suggest that alpine long-eared bat, Plecotus macrobullaris, commonly forages in habitats, although most of its roosting records are from locations situated below treeline. Aiming to contribute resolving this seemingly contradictory pattern ecological preferences P. we carried out a radio-tracking study (1) identify roosts and unveil habitat preferences, (2) determine whether bats found foraging habitats do actually roost breed such high-mountain environ- ments, (3) test if any elevation-related sexual segregation occurs. We captured 117 radio- tracked 37 individuals 54 located at elevations be- tween 1,450 2,430 m, 46 them above Bats used rock crevices (30 roosts), scree deposits (21) build- ings for roosting, lactating pregnant females relied on crevices. selected areas with high meadow availability near roost, while avoiding densely forested areas. Foraging sites were same elevation, indicating use both Pyrenees. Breeding roosted lower than nulliparous males, though they remained Although being considerably different pref- erencesdescribedsofar intheAlps,theroostingbehaviour observed was consistent some traits, namely foragingand trophic behaviour, ofP. as well distribution linked mountain regions.