Spatial activity and habitat use of a marginal population of the endangered Mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale)

Populations occupying peripheral areas of a current species range, particularly those located at rearing edges of the distributional ranges, have a high adaptive potential to environmental changes for the species, being of key conservation importance and, simultaneously, are heavily understudied. We provide the first description of the home-range size and foraging habitat preferences of the isolated northern-most population of the Mediterranean horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus euryale) living at the contact zone of the Carpathian Mountains and Pannonian Lowland, located ~300 km north of the core species range. The median size of the Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) for all individuals throughout the study was 1.8 km2 and was in accordance with data reported for the southern populations from the range-core. The MCP median size varied between the reproductive periods, being the largest (3.3 km2) in the pregnancy period, decreased dramatically (0.8 km2) during the lactation period and then increased again considerably (7.5 km2) in the post-lactation period. The Ecological Niche Modelling revealed the affinity of the bats to forage in a close distance to riverine habitats, but also in villages and forest edges, while they avoided closed forest areas and open habitats. The differences in habitat use in the study area as compared to the core range populations bring an evidence of ecological plasticity of the northern marginal populations of this species and its potential to exploit human-altered habitats, such as village interiors.