Adhesive Monitoring Traps As a Mortality Risk for the Common Pipistrelle in Mediterranean Olive Agroecosystems: First Evidence from Greece and Implications for Bat Conservation

Yellow adhesive chromotropic traps are widely deployed across Mediterranean olive cultivation to monitor B. oleae population dynamics, yet their adhesive surfaces can also retain non-target organisms. Here we report the first documented entrapment of the common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) on an adhesive monitoring trap in Greece, recorded on 15 May 2026 in a traditionally managed olive grove on Lesvos Island (North Aegean). The adult specimen (wingspan of 23.1 cm, body mass of 5.9 g) was independently identified by two specialist chiropterologists and confirmed dead by direct examination. The trap surface bore small-bodied Diptera belonging to groups known to occur in the diet of P. pipistrellus, raising the possibility that prey-associated cues may have contributed to the encounter. We argue that this record exposes an agroecological contradiction relevant to conservation-oriented olive management: the monitoring device deployed to track B. oleae may incidentally eliminate an insectivorous bat belonging to the broader natural enemy community associated with olive agroecosystems. Given the extent of adhesive trap deployment across Mediterranean olive cultivation and the strict legal protection afforded to all European bats under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), systematic bycatch recording, mechanistic investigation and evaluation of simple mitigation measures are warranted.