THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT BAT (Rousettus aegyptiacus): POSITION AND DYNAMICS OF RANGE MARGINS
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| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The Mediterranean population of Rousettus aegyptiacus represent the only off-shot of the chiropteran family Pteropodidae beyond limits of tropes. We summarized all distributional data and revised its current status in most regions of its Mediterranean range with particular respect to the situation along the range margins in the region. Distribution of R. aegyptiacus in the Palaearctic shows three different patterns: (1) supposedly continuous distribution in the Nile valley and delta (mostly linear in the zone of date palm plantations in a narrow belt along Nile), (2) densely patched (or locally continuous) distribution in Thermo-Mediterranean arboreal zone, in S Turkey, Cyprus, N Levant to central Israel, i.e. 10 to ca. 50 km wide belt along the sea shore, locally with particularly high population densities; and (3) clearly discontinuous distribution in desert zones (Egypt, N Sudan, Arabian Peninsula, southern Iran and Pakistan), characterized by mutually isolated patches of distribution in desert oases and smaller areas of relative humid habitats (southern part of Nile valley, Estern desert oases, western slopes of the Hijaz and Sarawat ranges of SW Arabia, Hajjar Mts. of NE Oman, southern slopes of the Zagros Range in Iran). Detailed fine-scale data on an isolated marginal population in Dakhla Oasis, Egypt, suggests considerable potential of the species for survival in small isolated populations. The dramatic decline documented from 2005 to 2010 in Cyprus, synchronous with expansion of ranges margins in Turkey suggests, at the same time, considerble capacity for range dynamics. |
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