Abstract
Many abandoned underground sites, such as war-related underground sites and abandoned mines, have been used by bats as roosting sites. However, these sites carry the risk of being closed for safety measures. To protect roosting sites of bats, some sites in Japan have been gated against human entrance. To date, few studies have assessed the impact of gating on resident bats. We investigated the effect of gating on a large colony of Miniopterus fuliginosus at an underground site in Chiba Prefecture. The number of Miniopterus fuliginosus at the site did not differ before and after construction of the bat gates. Our results demonstrated that the gates served as effective safety measures and did not negatively affect bats. Future studies should evaluate the effect of various gate structures on bats to optimize the application of bat gates at other underground sites.
