Nyctalus noctula.

All bat species of Ukraine have a protection status according to the national legislation and international treaties. Implementation of conservation measures requires detailed information concerning their species occurrence, relative abundance, communities’ structure.

Till quite recently (up to late 1990-s), bats had remained the least studied mammals of Ukraine. During last 15 years, the situation had started to change. However, there are still a lot of gaps even in our basic knowledge on species distribution. In particular, it concerns territories of plain “not-cave” regions of Ukraine fully covering the project area.

It’s widely agreed that monitoring and surveillance of bats needed across all Europe. In Ukraine, there are only few natural territories which may serve already as sites for further monitoring. Broadening of the monitoring sites’ list is needed.

Territories which have the protection status may be appropriate for establishment of monitoring network. However, some of them are subjects to regulatory and forestry management. In particular, it concerns park landscapes monuments. Our reconnaissance study shows that such objects may be regarded as bat key sites, important for bat conservation and monitoring. Raising awareness and recommendations are needed to make the management relevant to tasks of bat conservation.

The project deals with bat fauna surveillance (bat species occurrence, their relative abundance, sex ratio, reproductive status, and roosts) on protected territories of different level (natural reserve, national park, landscape parks and park landscape monuments) in plain, “not-cave”, regions of Northern and Central Ukraine. Data to be obtained will be the base for: 1) further monitoring of bat populations, 2) development of criteria on distinguishing key natural localities, important for bat conservation and monitoring, and compiling initial list of such sites, and 3) elaboration of recommendations on tree management at protected territories in view of tasks of bat conservation at the national level.

The project includes the section of raising public awareness concerning bat conservation in Ukraine (in particular: preparation of booklets focusing at tree dwelling bat species, highlighting the necessity of conservation of their habitats; public presentations aimed to promote bats and raise awareness of their conservation generally and as guards of forests and parks).