Rita Boga

Rita Boga

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Rita Boga

C.R.A.S. Rimini-Corpolò, via Baracchi 47, 47923 Corpolò, Italy

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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3 April 2023 in Biology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Valeria Salinas-RamosValeria Salinas-Ramos
Valeria Salinas-Ramos
ATAlessandra Tomassini
Alessandra Tomassini
FFFabiana Ferrari
Fabiana Ferrari
RBRita Boga
Rita Boga
Danilo RussoDanilo Russo
Danilo Russo
Climate change is exerting a broad range of (mostly adverse) effects on biodiversity, and more are expected under future scenarios. Impacts on species that deliver key ecosystem services, such as bats, are especially concerning, so their better understanding is key to preventing or mitigating them. Due to their physiological requirements, bats are especially sensitive to environmental temperatures and water availability, and heatwave-related mortality has been reported for flying foxes and, more anecdotally, other bat species. For temperate regions, to date, no study has highlighted an association between temperature extremes and bat mortality, mostly due to the difficulty of relying on data series covering long timespans. Heatwaves may affect bats, causing thermal shock and acute dehydration so bats can fall from the roost and, in some cases, are rescued by the public and brought to wildlife rehabilitation centres (WRCs). In our work, we considered a dataset spanning over 20 years of bat admittance to Italian WRCs, covering 5842 bats, and hypothesised that in summer, the number of admitted bats will increase in hotter weeks and young bats will be more exposed to heat stress than adults. We confirmed our first hypothesis for both the overall sample and three out of five synurbic species for which data were available, whereas hot weeks affected both young and adults, pointing to an especially concerning effect on bat survival and reproduction. Although our study is correlative, the existence of a causative relationship between high temperatures and grounded bats is still the best explanation for the recorded patterns. We urge such a relationship to be explored via extensive monitoring of urban bat roosts to inform appropriate management of bat communities in such environments and preserve the precious ecosystem services such mammals provide, especially insectivory services.