Frequent or scarce? Damage to flight-enabling body parts in bats (Chiroptera).

Bat wings are characterized by high endurance, and these mammals have developed a number of adaptations that protect them from falling into obstacles and potential injuries. However, in bat populations, there are individuals with visible fresh or healed injuries to the flight-enabling body parts. The aim of this research was to determine the differences in the occurrence of wing membrane damages among species of bats that differ in ecology and behavior. The study was conducted in southern and western Poland in the years 2000-2016 and included 3,525 individuals of six species: lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolopus hipposideros, Daubenton's bat Myotis daubentonii, Natterer's bat Myotis nattereri, greater mouse-eared bat Myotis myotis, western barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus, and brown long-eared bat Plecotus auritus. In all, 2.9% of the bats studied showed damage to the flight-enabling body parts. Natterer's bat was the species with the highest number of injured individuals (21.74%). The lowest number of injured individuals (0.3%) was found in the brown long-eared bat. The most frequently observed type of damage was loss of an edge of the wing membrane (29.3%). The bat species studied differed significantly in the occurrence and location of flight enabling body parts damages. Certain behavioral and ecological factors like foraging mode, foraging habitats and habitat types of bat species determine the number of wing and tail membrane damages.

A microsatellite study in the Legucki Mlyn/Popielno hybrid zone reveals no genetic differentiation between two chromosome races of the common shrew (Sorex araneus).

This study investigated a chromosome hybrid zone between two chromosomal races of the common shrew (Sorex araneus). Gene flow and genetic structure of the hybrid zone, located in the northeast of Poland, were studied using seven polymorphic autosomal microsatellite loci (L9, L14, L33, L45, L67, L68, L97) and a Y-linked microsatellite locus (L8Y). Seventy-five animals (46 of the Legucki Mlyn race and 29 of the Popielno race) from nine different localities were examined and the data were analyzed using hierarchical AMOVA and F-statistic. The studied microsatellite loci and races (divided into nine geographical populations) were characterized by observed heterozygosity (H(O)), expected heterozygosities within (H(S)), and between (H(T)) populations, inbreeding coefficient (F(IS)), fixation index (F(ST)), and average allelic richness (A). We found that genetic structuring within and between the two chromosome races were weak and non-significant. This finding and unconstrained gene flow between the races indicates a high level of migration within the Legucki Mlyn/Popielno hybrid zone, suggesting that evolutionarily important genetic structuring does not occur in interracial zones where races which are not genetically distinct come into contact.