Oak woodlands and urban green spaces: Landscape management for a forest specialist bat, the Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri)

European forests have been intensively managed for a long time, threatening manyforest-bound wildlife species, such as the Leisler's bat (Nyctalus leisleri). This rarespecies has been observed in deciduous forests, but we lack conclusive landscapescalemanagement recommendations for continental Europe. We therefore tracked themovements of 32 adult Leisler's bats with miniaturised Global Positioning System(GPS) loggers in two consecutive summers in a landscape that consists of a mosaic ofwoodland, forest plantations and farmland and in which wind energy production isexpanding. We then analysed the habitat preferences of bats and how they interactwith local wind turbines using an integrated step selection function in which wedifferentiated between roosting, commuting and foraging. In short, most spatialpositions of Leisler's bats overlapped with the rotor-swept zone of local wind turbines,indicating that this species is vulnerable at turbines. Further, Leisler’s bats preferredoak woodlands and urban spaces, but avoided coniferous forests. For roosting,Leisler’s bats preferred urban areas, probably because old trees were available alonglanes or in churchyards. We call for careful landscape-scale management of oakwoodlands and urban green spaces in Europe, particularly the preservation of old treesto support populations of Leisler’s bats and other forest-affiliated bats. Furthermore,wind turbines should be sited well away from Leisler's bat colonies, as the flight altitudeof Leisler's bats overlaps with the operating range of wind turbines, putting them at riskof being attracted to wind turbines during foraging trips.