Abstract:
Many wildlife species are synanthropic and use structures built
by humans, creating a high-risk interface for human–wildlife
conflict and zoonotic pathogen spillover. However, studies that
investigate features of urbanizing areas that attract or repel
wildlife are currently lacking. We surveyed 85 buildings used
by bats and 172 neighbouring buildings unused by bats
(controls) in southeastern Kenya during 2021 and 2022 and
evaluated the role of microclimate and structural attributes in
building selection. We identified eight bat species using
buildings, with over 25% of building roosts used concurrently
by multiple species. Bats selected taller cement-walled
buildings with higher water vapour pressure and lower
presence of permanent human occupants. However, roost
selection criteria differed across the most common bat species:
molossids selected structures like those identified by our main
dataset whereas Cardioderma cor selected buildings with lower
presence of permanent human occupants. Our results show
that roost selection of synanthropic bat species is based on
specific buildings attributes. Further, selection criteria that
facilitate bat use of buildings are not homogeneous across
species. These results provide information on the general
mechanisms of bat–human contact in rural settings, as well as
specific information on roost selection for synanthropic bats in
urbanizing Africa.
