ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a general introduction to the ecology of bats, birds, invertebrates and plants and the ways in which they use buildings. Bats use different roosts at different times of the year, and they tend to return year after year to the same roosts in buildings, which they may have been using for generations. Bats are long lived, with some UK bats having been recorded living into their thirties in the wild. All UK bat species will make use of buildings on occasions, but for some species buildings are essential as roost sites. This situation has arisen over a long period of time, as tree cover and the availability of caves, which would have provided natural roost sites, have become scarce. Roosts in existing building stock are vitally important and this book will briefly look at the issues surrounding the refurbishment and retrofitting of our current housing stock to achieve low carbon buildings.
