Studia Chiropterologica, Vol. 3-4, 2003: 11-20

ON THE STATUS OF BARBASTELLA BARBASTELLUS (SCHREBER, 1774) IN THE CAUCASUS

Suren V. GAZARYAN
Russian Bat Research Group, Rossiyskaya 94-23, Krasnodar, Russian Federation
e-mail: s-gazaryan@yandex.ru

On the status of Barbastella barbastellus (Schreber, 1774) in the Caucasus.
The data on all earlier and 12 new records of Barbastella barbastellus in the Caucasus are given. A new record of B. barbastellus in Georgia was the first since 1906. The absence of records from the Taman and Kertch peninsulas demonstrates that the Caucasian part of the range is isolated from the Crimean one. The occurrence of the barbastelle in the territories of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan is doubtful and must be confirmed. In contrast with earlier estimates, recent studies indicate that barbastelles are quite abundant and widely distributed in the forest zone of the Western Caucasus. Despite protective measures urgently needed for this species it does not have any official conservation status in the Russian Federation.

Key words: Barbastella barbastellus, Caucasus

1. Introduction
The Caucasus is one of the largest mountain areas in the Palearctic region with various types of landscapes and climate. More than 30 bat species occur here (RAKHMATULINA 1999) but data on their status is insufficient. The barbastelle was considered rare throughout the Caucasus (see KUZYAKIN 1950, RAKHMATULINA 1996, KOZHURINA & STRELKOV 1999). Nevertheless, the current status of barbastelles must be revised after recent investigations in the Western Caucasus (GAZARYAN 2000).
The distribution of B. barbastellus in the easternmost part of its range is not clear at the moment. In some of the latest papers (e.g. RYDELL & BOGDANOWICZ 1997) it has been shown as a continuous belt from central Ukraine to the Caspian Sea. But this is not confirmed by the current state of knowledge — barbastelles are missing from large territories of Ukraine between the right bank of the Dnepr River and the Crimean mountains (KOVALYOVA & TARABORKIN 2001). Also, records of barbastelles have never been reported from the eastern part of the Crimean peninsula (KONSTANTINOV et al. 1976). Outside the former USSR, Asian records of B. barbastellus came only from Turkey (STEINER & GAISLER 1994). This species has never been found in Iran (DEBLASE 1980) or any other part of this continent (HORACEK et al. 2000). It seems that the Caucasus is more or less isolated from any other part of the barbastelle's range. All earlier and new records of B. barbastellus are described here in order to clarify its distribution in the Caucasus region. In an attempt to evaluate its relative abundance, the frequency of records and conservation status was assessed for the territory of the Western Caucasus.

2. Materials and Methods
The survey of bats was conducted mainly in the Russian part of the Western Caucasus between 1997-2003. Special expeditions to the Crimean peninsula, Abkhasia (illegitimate republic in the territory of Georgia) and Daghestan were made in 2002-2003 with a goal to find barbastelles. Observations were carried out in more than 170 locations in all seasons. Bats were identified and counted visually in their hibernation roosts; photographs were used for counting in large colonies. Mist nets and a mobile trap (BORISSENKO 1999) were applied to catch bats near the entrances of summer roosts and in foraging areas. For the analyses of geographic distribution, collections of the State Museum of Georgia (SMG), the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University (ZMU), Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science (St.-Petersburg) (ZIN), Daghestan, Stavropol, Rostov-on-Don and Abkhazian universities were revised. All available literature sources were also used.
Relative abundance (A) and frequency of records (F) were calculated after Strelkov & Iliyn (1990) for the Russian territory of the Western Caucasus (Fig. 1). Estimates were made separately for hibernation time (from the end of November till the beginning of April) and other times of the year:
A = N1/ N x 100%, where N is the total number of recorded bats, N1 is the number of a given species;
F= L1/ L x 100%, where L1 is the number of record sites for a given species, L is the number of known sites of records for all bat species. If one site (e.g. a hibernation roost) was checked several times, the maximum number of each species was used for estimating relative abundance.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Distribution
Western barbastelles occur throughout the Caucasus in the mountain and pre-mountain forested areas (Fig. 1). There are 57 localities of reliable records, and 35 of them are situated in the Western Caucasus (Tab. 1, 2). Fieldwork supports the absence of barbastelles from the westernmost part of the Caucasus (Taman peninsula) and in the easternmost part of Crimea (Kertch peninsula). Therefore, the Crimean and Caucasian populations are probably isolated from each other. The shortest distance between the nearest record localities in the Caucasus (Tab. 1, locality 10 ) and in the mountains of Crimea (Karadag, 44o56'N 35o14'E, KONSTANTINOV et al. 1976) is about 200 km.

Fig. 1. Distribution of B. barbastellus in the Caucasus: I - location of records; II - boundary of the territory that was investigated on relative abundance and frequency of records. For further explanations see the text and tables.

While the recent records of B. barbastellus in the Russian part of the Western Caucasus are frequent, data from the neighboring parts of the Caucasus are scarce. Only 3 records are known from the northern slopes of the Central Caucasus (Tab. 1, localities 24, 25, 26). Confirmed records are absent for the territories of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan. One locality in Daghestan (Tab. 1, locality 28) was pointed out by N. K. VEREZHAGIN (1959) as a plot in the map of distribution, without any description. This doubtful record of the western barbastelle has never been mentioned by previous authors (RADDE, 1899; OGNEV, 1928; KRASOVSKY, 1932; GEPTNER, FORMOSOV, 1941) and was not confirmed by museum specimens. The presence of B. barbastellus in the bat fauna of Daghestan has not been investigated by subsequent research (AMIRKHANOV, 1980). Also, the western barbastelle was not found in the underground quarters of Daghestan.
The finding of the barbastelle in Uaz-Abaa cave (Tab. 2, locality 12) became the 6th one in Georgia and the first for this country since 1906.

Tab. 1. List of earlier records of B. barbastellus in the Caucasus Name and number of locality Country and geographic area*

*Abbreviations: RF - Russian Federation, G - Georgia, Az - Azerbaijan, Ar - Armenia;W - the Western Caucasus, C - the Central Caucasus, E - the Eastern Caucasus, L - the Lesser Caucasus and Talysh mountains;ZIN - Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science (St.-Petersburg), MSU - Zoological Museum of Moscow State University, GSM - Georgian State Museum.
** - see the text about this record

Tab. 2. New records of B. barbastellus in the Caucasus Name and number of locality Country and geographic area*

* - Abbreviations as in Tab. 1
** - Based on materials from the archive of ZIN

3.2. Frequency of records and relative abundance in the Western Caucasus
Barbastelles are particularly frequent during the hibernation period, being the fourth most abundant among 19 bat species in the Western Caucasus during winter (Fig. 2). By relative abundance in the cold season, B. barbastellus was one of two dominating species (Fig. 3). The overwhelming majority of hibernating barbastelles were counted in Canyon cave, where up to 7000 animals hibernate (GAZARYAN 2000). Probably, thousands of barbastelles hibernate each year in the newly explored Mayskaya and Babaylov's caves (Tab. 2). Such a conclusion is based on the large amount of bones and guano in these caves. The number in other underground shelters did not exceed several tens.
Summer records are not rare; but most of them are related to large hibernation roosts where adult males and non-reproductive females occur from spring to autumn. Only two summer records outside underground roosts are known - in the vicinity of Krasnaya Polyana village (Tab. 1, locality 3) and at the Pshada river (Tab. 2, locality 6). In the last case one subadult male was captured by a mobile trap over the river (A.V. Borissenko, personal communication). Although barbastelles are not as abundant during the summer time as in winter, they are still quite numerous, because relatively large numbers of animals were netted and counted near the entrances of caves during the period of swarming, from mid-August to the beginning of October.

Fig. 2. Frequency of records (F) of 23 bat species in the Western Caucasus.

Fig. 3. Relative abundance (A) of B. barbastellus in the Western Caucasus during the hibernation period and in other times of the year in 1997-2003 (about 17 000 and 23 000 individuals of different species were counted consequently).

3.3. Conservation status
The reported change in status is not related to population growth, but results from detailed study of the bat fauna. B. barbastellus is the most abundant and frequently found species in Holocene subfossil material from caves of the Western Caucasus (own data). A large number of skulls was gathered in large hibernation roosts, for example in Babaylov's and Canyon caves. Following the information of cavers, the number of bats in the last cave decreased markedly from the date of first exploration in 1978. Special observations concluded that disturbance from only one winter expedition of cavers may lead to a drastic decline in the number of barbastelles in Canyon cave. Four hibernation roosts (Tab. 3, localities 4, 5, 11, 13, 21) were abandoned by barbastelles since 1997 as a result of frequent commercial excursions. In some non-commercial caves (Tab. 3, localities 6, 12) the number of hibernating animals also greatly decreased because disturbance from visitors grew significantly in the last years. The protection of several key winter roosts is urgently needed for the conservation of species in the Russian Federation.

Tab. 3. Records of B. barbastellus in the Western Caucasus.

* - Netted during swarming

4. Conclusions
B. barbastellus is widely distributed in the Caucasus but is common only in the western part of these mountains. The northern boarder of distribution is associated with the edge of the forest zone and does not reach the 45o parallel. B. barbastellus is missing in the steppe parts of the Precaucasus, Crimea and Taman peninsula. Its occurrence in Ingushetia, Chechnya and Daghestan must be confirmed.
Estimation of relative abundance and frequency of records demonstrates that barbastelles in the Western Caucasus are even more common than in Eastern Europe (URBANCZYK 1989, UHRIN 1995). The major threats for the population are also similar with those known from the European part of the range (RICHARZ 1989, RYDELL & BOGDANOWICZ 1997). Demanding conservation measures have not been undertaken because B. barbastellus wasn't included in the Russian Red Data Book of Threatened Species. It indicates that the recent list of threatened bats in the Russian federation is incomplete and must be revised urgently.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank P.P. Strelkov, G.B. Bakhtadze, A. Bukhnikashvili, S.V. Kruskop and A.V. Borissenko, who kindly provided access to museum collections and own unpublished data. The author is grateful to Dr. B.S. Tuniev from the Caucasian State Reserve for the support of expeditions in this protected area and to all cavers from Krasnodar and Moscow who helped me in expeditions. I also wish to thank T. Postawa for the idea of this paper.
Studies in 2000-2001 were performed with the support of the Program on Global Security and Sustainability's Research and Writing Initiative of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (grant #00-62799). Investigations in 2002 partially founded by DEFRA / FFI Flagship Species Fund (project № 02/20/05 FLAG).

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