Natural bodies of open water in desert landscapes, such as springs and ephemeral pools, and the plant-life they support, are important resources for the survival of animals in hyper arid, arid and semi-arid (dryland) environments. Human-made artificial water sources, i.e. waste-water treatment ponds, catchments and reservoirs, have become equally important for wildlife in those areas. Bodies of open water are used by bats either for drinking and/or as sites over which to forage for aquatic emergent insects. Due to the scarcity of available water for replenishing water losses during roosting and flight, open bodies of water of many shapes and sizes may well be a key resource influencing the survival, activity, resource use and the distribution of insectivorous bats . In this chapter, we review the current knowledge of bats living in semi- and arid regions around the world and discuss the factors that influence their richness , behaviour and activity around bodies of water. We further present how increased anthropogenic changes in hydrology and water availability may influence the distribution of species of bats in desert environments and offer directions for future research on basic and applied aspects on bats and the water they use in these environments.

We used nitrogen isotope analysis from pectoral muscle of the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) to determine intrapopulation variation in sources of dietary protein throughout the year in northern Israel. In Mediterranean climates, winter and summer are stable seasons, whereas spring and fall are transitional seasons. Number of species of fruit-bearing plants is higher during the transitional periods, and we therefore predicted that intrapopulation variation would be higher during spring than in winter and summer; we made no prediction for fall because sample size was small. We also reconstructed sources of dietary protein for each individual using nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) to determine whether individuals foraged on the same sources of food within each season. Intrapopulation variation in δ15N was significantly higher in spring (δ15N range: 9.7–17.5‰) compared to winter (8.8–1 l.l‰) and summer (9.5–11.2‰), suggesting that individuals during this period varied more in their use of protein sources. Dietary reconstruction revealed intrapopulation partitioning among the bats in the use of plant food items, and interspecific partitioning among plants in their dependence on dispersal by bats.