Foraging habitats of Myotis emarginatus in Central Europe

We radio-tracked Myotis emarginatus in Upper Bavaria, Germany to identify the key-foraging habitats and to enable an adequate habitat management for this endangered species. The studied females foraged at a distance of up to 8.1 km around their colony roost. The average distance of the foraging area was 3.7 km, where 70% of foraging areas were located within a distance of 5 km and 90% within 6 km of the nurseries. Moreover, these bats spent about 75% of their foraging time within 5 km and 85% within a 6-km radius. To reach the foraging areas, the bats usually used riparian woodlands, hedges and tree lines as flight paths. Specifically, 46.9% of the foraging areas were located in forests, 24.5% in cow sheds, 18.4% in riparian woodlands along streams and 10.2% in fields, villages, orchards, hedges and groves on open land. On average, the bats foraged in forests for 56.2% of the time, during which habitat allocation was possible. In cow sheds the percentage was 29.2%, in riparian deciduous woodland 11.5% and in the other habitats 3.1%. Within forests M. emarginatus avoided foraging in spruce monocultures. Pure stands of spruce covered 45% of the total forest area, but only 10% of the foraging areas were located in this forest type. Deciduous forests on the other hand were much more common as foraging sites (40% versus 11%). Therefore, the availability of native deciduous forest and of fly-infested stables within a radius of 6 km around the colony roosts should be the focus of conservation concepts for M. emarginatus.