Urban Bats: City Lovers or Refugees?

ABSTRACT Urbanisation is one of the fastest and most pervasive forces reshaping wildlife habitats; yet, the presence of a species in cities is often readily interpreted as evidence of urban adaptation. This assumption is especially problematic for bats, whose occurrence in urban areas may reflect ecological flexibility in some cases but displacement from higher‐quality roosting and foraging habitats in others. In this Perspective, we argue that the refugee species concept can improve the interpretation of urban bat ecology by distinguishing genuine urban beneficiaries from populations that persist in cities because natural or historically used habitats have been lost, degraded, or rendered inaccessible. We propose that urban bat populations should be evaluated using evidence of habitat history, demographic performance, reproductive output, survival, juvenile recruitment, physiological condition, roost stability, movement connectivity and exposure to urban stressors rather than presence or acoustic activity alone. We then discuss examples along an urban‐response continuum, from edge‐adapted and urban‐tolerant species to taxa for which urban occurrence may indicate constraint rather than success. Finally, we distinguish refugee dynamics from ecological traps and outline conservation implications. Efforts toward urban bat conservation and planning should not only advocate for the protection of important urban roosts but also restore natural landscapes that enable bats to survive in cities and maintain viable populations.