Diet of the insectivorous bat 'Pipistrellus nathusii' during autumn migration and summer residence

Krüger, F., Clare, E. L., Symondson, William Oliver Christian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3343-4679, Keišs, O. and Pētersons, G. 2014. Diet of the insectivorous bat 'Pipistrellus nathusii' during autumn migration and summer residence. Molecular Ecology 23 (15) , pp. 3672-3683. 10.1111/mec.12547

Preview

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Migration is widespread among vertebrates, yet bat migration has received little attention and only in the recent decades has a better understanding of it been gained. Migration can cause significant changes in behaviour and physiology, due to increasing energy demands and aerodynamic constraints. Dietary shifts, for example, have been shown to occur in birds before onset of migration. For bats, it is not known if a change in diet occurs during migration, although breeding season–related dietary preference has been documented. It is known that a diet rich in fats and the accumulation of fat deposits do increase the flight range of migratory bats. Some bat species can be regarded as long-distance migrants, covering up to 2000 km between summer and winter roosting areas. Pipistrellus nathusii (Vespertilionidae), a European long-distant migrant, travels each year along the Baltic Sea from north-eastern Europe to hibernate in central and southern Europe. This study presents data on the dietary habits of migrating Pipistrellus nathusii compared with those during the breeding season. We analysed faecal samples from bats on fall migration caught at the Ornithological Field Station in Pape, Latvia and from samples collected in North-Latvian summer roosts. We applied both morphological identification and molecular methods, as morphological methods also recognize life stages of prey and can contribute frequency data. The diets of bats on migration and breeding bats were similar, with Diptera and Lepidoptera comprising the major prey categories. However, certain prey groups could be explained by the different hunting habitats exploited during migration vs. summer residence.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QL Zoology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chiroptera; diet analysis; migration; Pipistrellus nathusii
Additional Information:	Online publication date: 28 November 2013. PDF uploaded in accordance with publisher's policies at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0962-1083/(accessed 31.3.16).
Publisher:	Blackwell Publishing
ISSN:	0962-1083
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	31 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	13 September 2013
Last Modified:	29 Nov 2024 00:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/53944

Citation Data

Cited 42 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item