Abstract
Mass hibernacula of several tens of thousands of Pipistrellus pipistrellus associated with the swarming of bats during seasonal movements should serve as important sites of gene flow in this species. The massive occurrence of hibernating bats which is observed in few caves in the Carpathian Mountains encourages the idea that the genetic diversity at these sites will be greater comparing to known situation in surrounding region. This study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of individuals that aggregate in two such caves in Slovakia and Romania with the help of a common and available genetic marker. Using an mtDNA cytochrome b, 571 bp long fragment, very low haplotype diversity was found within both mass hibernacula of P. pipistrellus (15 haplotypes only, from which one significantly predominated with > 80% in both caves). The initial screening did not suggest that hibernating bats migrated to mass hibernacula from remote areas behind central European region. However, reliable study of the species’ migratory behaviour is required to understand more about the phenomenon of the mass hibernacula of these bats.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Operational Programme Research and Development funded by an ESF grant SOFOS (Knowledge and skill development of the academic staff and students at the University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik in Košice with emphasis on interdisciplinary competencies and integration into international research centres) and by a grant from the Cultural and Educational Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic (KEGA 012UPJŠ-4/2014). We are grateful to Ioan Coroiu for providing us with pipistrelle samples from Romania. Two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their comments to an earlier version of the manuscript.
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