NORTH-WESTERN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 11 (2): 194-203 ©NwjZ, Oradea, Romania, 2015 Article No.: 151701 http://biozoojournals.ro/nwjz/index.html Breeding sites of the barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus (Schreber, 1774) in Poland Iwona GOTTFRIED 1 , Tomasz GOTTFRIED 2 , Elbieta FUSZARA 3 , Maciej FUSZARA 4 , Maurycy IGNACZAK 5 , Radosław JAROS 6 and Michał PISKORSKI 7 1. Department of Behavioural Ecology, University of Wroclaw, ul. Sienkiewicza 21, 50-335 Wrocław, Poland; e-mail: iwona.gottfried@uwr.edu.pl 2. Polish Society of Wildlife Friends “pro Natura”, ul. Podwale 75, 50-449 Wroclaw, Poland; e-mail: gottfri@wp.pl 3. University of Warsaw, Faculty of Biology, Animal Physiology, ul. Miecznikowa 1, 02-096 Warszawa; e-mail: e_fuszara@poczta.onet.pl 4. PAN Centre for Ecological Research in Dziekanów Leıny in liquidation, Dziekanów Leıny, 05-092 Łomianki, Poland; e-mail: maciek_fuszara@poczta.onet.pl 5. The Polish Society for Bat Protection, ul. Baczyskiego 6/13, 98-220 Zduska Wola, Poland; e-mail: imoris@ksiezyc.pl 6. Polish Society for Nature Conservation "SALAMANDRA", ul. Stolarska 7/3, 60-788 Pozna Poland; e-mail: radek@salamandra.org.pl 7. Department of Comparative Anatomy and Anthropology, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, ul. Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland; e-mail: mpiskors@umcs.lublin.pl *Corresponding author, I. Gottfried, E-mail: gottfri@wp.pl Received: 02. April 2014 / Accepted: 06. January 2015 / Available online: 02. August 2015 / Printed: December 2015 Abstract. The paper presents breeding records of the barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus) from the whole current territory of Poland, both published data from papers and conference abstracts, and unpublished data collected by the authors. Up to 1999, known locations of maternity colonies and sites where young or lactating females had been caught, were assigned to only five forest regions or 16 Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) squares. The number of such sites has significantly increased since 2000. Breeding sites of barbastelle have now been recorded in all Polish forest regions in 68 UTM squares. Most of the barbastelle sites were located in forest stands with high proportions of beech and oak (65%, N=46), and/or old-growth forest (over 32%, N=23). The highest elevation of a breeding site was at about 500 m.a.s.l. This paper summarises new records of maternity colonies of barbastelles for the first time, as a preliminary step to develop a more comprehensive conservation and monitoring plan for this near-threatened species. Key words: Barbastella barbastellus, the barbastelle, bat, maternity colonies, Poland, habitat, forest regions, old-growth forest. Introduction The barbastelle is a woodland species; its summer roosts and maternity colonies are located mainly in woods and forests where the bat usually for- ages. Sometimes, especially in late July and Au- gust, wet woodland and hedgerows also become important habitat for the bulk of forage time (Greenaway 2008, Hillen et al. 2011). Upon leaving hibernacula, female barbastelles form colonies where, in mid-June, they give birth and then rear their young (Weidner 2000, Hermanns et al. 2003, Russo et al. 2004, Hillen et al. 2011). These groups disperse by September–October when mating be- gins (Weidner 2000, Gottfried 2009). Barbastelles roost mainly under loose bark and in crevices in tree trunks or branches (espe- cially in oak Quercus spp. and beech Fagus sp.) and seldom in rocks (Hermanns et al. 2003) or build- ings (Wojtaszyn et al. 2008). Although tree roosts are not long-lasting, females return yearly to the known, safe hideouts if these last through the win- ter (Russo et al. 2004, Hillen et al. 2009) therefore only small (if any) change occurs in the distribu- tion of colonies and territories (Greenaway, F. pers. comm. 2010). Such high site fidelity makes the protection of existing roosts and foraging habi- tats crucial for successful conservation of the bar- bastelle. Poland is home to relatively large num- bers of barbastelles, recorded mainly during win- ter bat surveys. The largest known winter roosts house approximately 7000 bats each year. On the other hand, data on the species’ summer distribu- tion is scarce, mainly due to the bats’ elusiveness - roosts are hard to find, maternity colonies are small, usually 10–20 females (Hermanns et al. 2003, Hillen et al. 2011, Weidner 2000), and the bats have relatively weak echolocation calls. This paper summarises the current state of knowledge of the distribution of barbastelles in Poland. It is the first step towards broadening the current, in- complete conservation measures that almost ex- clusively protect winter roosts, with a new, com- prehensive protection plan allowing the mainte- nance of the favourable conservation status of this globally decreasing, near-threatened bat species