Bat Count

The count of the bats which winter in the tunnels provides knowledge about population changes of particular species of bats in consecutive years. Bat experts know that effective protection requires systematic monitoring to document the changes to bat populations.

On 10th January 2009 between the hours of 7:00 and 16:00 the bats were counted by chiropterologists from Wrocław (the University of Environmental and Life Sciences and the University of Wrocław), Gdańsk (the University of Gdańsk), and Cracow (the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals, the Polish Academy of Sciences-PAN). The team comprised employees of those Universities assisted by doctoral students and students writing their Master Thesis. Every year the count is also aided by foreign chiropterologists, who constitute around half of all the participants. The most numerous group of foreigners was from Great Britain (21 people), but there were also chiropterologists from Germany (8 people), Holland (2 people) and Belgium (5 people). For the junior research workers connected with bats i.e. doctoral students and students writing their master’s thesis, it is an opportunity to meet the best chiropterologists from Western Europe. These meetings very often result in very valuable scientific relationship development.

Since 1998 the program of monitoring bat numbers and research in the underground tunnels of the central part of the fortified military defense line between the Odra and Warta rivers has been coordinated by Dr. Tomasz Kokurewicz from the department of Zoology and Ecology of Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. The bats are very sensitive to unfavorable environmental changes and it is difficult to predict all the threats to their population. Thus it is necessary to regularly monitor the changes of numbers. Additionally the places important for bats e.g. winter habitats and reproductive colonies, should be protected. To obtain credible results of the count especially to avoid double-counting of the same bats woken during the count and in order to reduce the stress level to a minimum, it is necessary to carry out the count during a single day. Because of the 32 km length of the underground corridors, the engagement of at least 50 people is required. The underground system of corridors was divided into 9 parts. 10 teams of 5 people counted the bats simultaneously.

By the end of the year the work on the Plan of Protecting the Area Natura 2000 “Nietoperek” will have finished. The protection plan for the Natura 2000 will be the first of its type in Poland and its main goal is to find a compromise between environmental protection and economic development. The success of the project depends on the so far very effective co-operation with local governments. This creates good prospects for designing a local strategy for a balanced development. The executor of the Protection Plan is the National Foundation for Environmental Protection.