Winter mortality rates of bats inhabiting man-made shelters (northern Poland)

Non-predator and non-accidental mortality rates of bats inside the city of Toruń's fortification system (northern Poland) were studied over winter periods from 1995 to 2000. The bats were counted and dead bats collected at 1-month intervals from October to April. In total, thirty four dead bats were found. The percentage of dead individuals of the surveyed bats was low:Myotis daubentonii (0.6%),M. nattereri (0.4%),Plecotus auritus (0.4%),M. myotis (0.1%), and zero forBarbastella barbastellus. There was no clear difference in the species ratio of the observed and dead bats. The percentage of the dead to surveyed bats was lower in November (0.07%) and December (0.07%), and higher in September (3.3%) and April (1.3%). Temperature explained 84% of variation of the differences in mortality rates. Observations suggest that non-predator and non-accidental mortality inside the fortifications was extremely low and non-linearly correlated with the ambient temperature measured outside the fortifications.