Leaping on urban islands: further summer and winter range expansion of European bat species

Abstract

Cities or urban areas are the new types of landscapes that have rapidly developed in the Anthropocene and generally mimic mountains and rock habitats. Such areas attract different vertebrate species that naturally prefer rocky habitats, for example, bats, which are common animal inhabitants of the cities in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we review records of four bat species (Hypsugo savii, Plecotus austriacus, Pipistrellus nathusii and P. pygmaeus) inhabiting human settlements in Ukraine, encompassing the period from 2011 to 2022. Over the last 20 to 30 years, the winter range of P. nathusii has shifted 200-300 km north, and now covers all Black Sea coast steppe regions of continental Ukraine. The Pl. austiacus range most likely covers the whole territory of Ukraine. We documented the first factual records of H. savii in continental Ukraine and the first winter records of P. pygmaeus for the country. Our observations clearly demonstrate colonization of newly formed urban landscapes by bats species from different ecological groups. Therefore, bats, same as some other mammalian species, can be considered beneficiaries of urbanization and urban heat islands.