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Abstract: Habitat loss and degradation are perceived as main factors threatening biodiversity. Historical rather than contemporary processes are often responsible for present patterns of species’ distribution, but their respective contributions are not always easy to disentangle. The strict forest specialist, sedentary, highly phylopatric Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii) is an ideal model species to assess the effect of historical landscape transformations in the current distribution patterns of forest species. Although to date the species has been considered almost absent from the Mediterranean range (Southern Europe), recently it has been shown to be common in certain spots there. We test whether the present distribution and ecological preferences of the species in this area are related to biogeographical constraints or to clearance of forests from preferred areas. We assessed roost selection, spatial ecology, foraging habitat selection, and prey selection in Atlantic and Mediterranean domains of the Iberian Peninsula. Ecological requirements appeared conserved throughout, but roost selection appeared less constrained in the Mediterranean localities. Hunting occurred preferentially inside closed deciduous oak forest in both regions, but commuting distances and foraging areas were larger in the Atlantic, together with higher habitat fragmentation and lower prey availability. The same prey taxa were eaten in both regions, although their frequency in the diet varied, matching differences in availability. Consequently, scarcity of these bats in Mediterranean Iberia seems to be better explained by the retreat or loss of deciduous forests due to human impacts, coupled with climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article reports on the use of classification and regression tree analysis to evaluate the factors that influence the foraging behavior of the Mehely's horseshoe bats Rhinolophus mehelyi in the Mediterranean region. It discusses the influence of the availability of water, differences in habitat types, including the radio tracking of colonies in southwestern Spain and in Aurora. It examines the foraging preference of the bats for cluttered environments in woodlands and near bodies of water with access to insect populations.