Bats of Britain and Europe

Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Preface
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Bats – the mystery beings
	Box 1: Records in bats
	Body structure of bats
	Box 2: Dental formula of the genus Myotis
	A long success story
	The flight of bats
	Habitats of bats
	Forests and ‘forest bats’
	Threats to bats
	Fragmentation of habitats
	Wind turbines are a new threat
	Legal protection of bats – bats are not unprotected
	Box 3: Bat species and the Habitats Directive
	Landscape planning
	Examples of interventions
	Road crossings
	Conservation programmes
	A Life project to save the Greater Horseshoe Bat in Upper Palatinate
	A large-scale nature conservation project in the Mayen basalt mines area
	Gardens for bats
	Box 4: Use of bat droppings as fertiliser
	First aid for bats
	Diseases and parasites in bats
	Public relations
Bat roosts
	Bat roosts
	Annual cycle of bats
	Searching for roosts
	Tree management and road safety
	Building renovation
	Bridge renovation
	Rock-face renovation
	Underground roosts and tourism
	Creating new bat roosts
Tracking bats
	Investigation methods
	Catching methods
	Radio-tracking
	Marking bats
	Transponders
	Food analysis
	Light barriers and camera traps
	Molecular genetics and bats
	Box 5: PCR, haplotypes and trees
	Is identification easy now?
	Colonisation history
	Population genetics
	Box 6: Microsatellites
	Structure of bat populations
Detecting bats
	Echolocation
	The bat guilds
	Bat detectors: hearing and recording echolocation calls
	Investigations with bat detectors
	Acoustic identification of species based on the echolocation calls
	Identification of double tongue clicks
	Identification of FM-CF-FM calls
	Identification of FM-QCF and QCF calls
	Identification of FM calls
	Identification of FM calls with distinct harmonics
	Identification of alternating flat and steep FM calls
Identification of bats
	Identification of bat species
	Typical evidence of bats
	Bat droppings
	Identification of bat hair from faecal samples
	Key A for hair from small faecal pellets
	Key B for hair from medium-sized faecal pellets (diameter 2.5–3mm)
	Key C for hair from large faecal pellets (diameter 3–5mm)
	Species identification of hibernating bats
	Species identification of an animal in the hand
	Measuring bats and the measurements
	Age classification
	Reproductive characteristics
	Identification key of European bats in the hand
	Detailed identification key to European bats – Part 1: bat families
	Identification key to European bats – Part 2: horseshoe bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 3: bent-winged bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4: vesper or plain-nosed bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–1: ‘water’ bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–2: ‘whiskered’ bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–3: mouse-eared bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–4: noctule bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–5: serotine bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–6: pipistrelle bats
	Identification key to European bats – Part 4–7: long-eared bats
	Bat oddities
The bat species
	Introduction to the species accounts
	Fruit bats Pteropodidae
		Egyptian Fruit Bat
	Horseshoe bats Rhinolophidae
		Lesser Horseshoe Bat
		Greater Horseshoe Bat
		Mediterranean Horseshoe Bat
		Mehely’s Horseshoe Bat
		Blasius’s Horseshoe Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
	Vesper or plain-nosed bats Vespertilionidae
		Daubenton’s Bat
		Pond Bat
		Long-fingered Bat
		Brandt’s Bat
		Whiskered Bat
		Steppe Whiskered Bat
		Alcathoe Whiskered Bat
		Geoffroy’s Bat
		Natterer’s Bat
		Iberian Natterer’s Bat
		Bechstein’s Bat
		Greater Mouse-eared Bat
		Lesser Mouse-eared Bat
		Maghrebian Mouse-eared Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
		Noctule Bat
		Greater Noctule Bat
		Leisler’s Bat
		Serotine Bat
		Isabelline Serotine Bat
		Anatolian Serotine Bat
		Northern Bat
		Parti-coloured Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
		Common Pipistrelle Bat
		Soprano Pipistrelle Bat
		Hanak’s Pipistrelle Bat
		Nathusius’s Pipistrelle Bat
		Kuhl’s Pipistrelle Bat
		Savi’s Pipistrelle Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
		Western Barbastelle Bat
		Brown Long-eared Bat
		Alpine Long-eared Bat
		Sardinian Long-eared Bat
		Grey Long-eared Bat
		Balkan Long-eared Bat
		Gaisler’s Long-eared Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
	Bent-winged bats Miniopteridae
		Schreibers’s Bent-winged Bat
		Anatolian Bent-winged Bat
	Free-tailed bats Molossidae
		European Free-tailed Bat
		Species in adjacent areas
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
The genera of European bats