Rare Bat in Danger Due to Climate Change

Plecotus austriacus

Researchers from the University of Southampton warn that climate change may threaten populations of the grey long-eared bat (Plecotus austriacus) in southern Europe, which may hold the key for the survival of the species as a whole.
Ecologists remain concerned because the populations in Spain and Portugal—which are particularly at a high risk—include pockets with the highest levels of genetic diversity because their ancestors have survived major climate change events including ice ages.

These bats are better suited to the hotter, drier conditions associated with climate change.

RARE PIPISTRELLID PRINCESS OF BRAGANCA
LAST SEEN IN 1685 AS BRITAIN APPROACHED PEAK BAT

Other populations in the region that lack the same genetic diversity and are unable to adapt to the harsher conditions could become isolated if they cannot travel to more climatically suitable areas because the landscape in between is unsuitable.

This may prevent the bats from achieving better-adapted populations—whose genes could help the threatened bat populations survive.

“Long-lived, slow-reproducing species with smaller population sizes are not likely to be able to adapt to future climate change fast enough through the spread of new mutations arising in the population,” lead author Orly Razgour, Ph.D., of the University of Southampton, said in a statement. “Instead they will depend on the spread of adaptive genetic variation between populations through the movement of individuals.

ELSEWHERE IN THE SIBERIAN BAT NEWS,

SCIENCE REPORTS:

Ussurian tube-nosed bats hibernate in tiny snow caves.

Snow provides thermal protection from extreme temperatures, a phenomenon capitalized on by polar bears and people indigenous to parts of the Arctic. But snow does not provide a cozy environment, a likely reason why more mammals have not evolved to take advantage of its protection against extreme cold. Hirakawa and Nagasaka, however, report that Ussurian tube-nosed bats (Murina ussuriensis) appear to create tiny snow “caves” with their bodies, which then serve as opportunistic hibernacula.