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Marsden GE, Vosloo D, Schoeman MC. Urban tolerance is phylogenetically constrained and mediated by pre-adaptations in African bats. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e9840. [PMID: 36911303 PMCID: PMC9994473 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2023] Open
Abstract
With increasing urbanization, particularly in developing countries, it is important to understand how local biota will respond to such landscape changes. Bats comprise one of the most diverse groups of mammals in urban areas, and many species are threatened by habitat destruction and land use change. Yet, in Africa, the response of bats to urban areas is relatively understudied. Therefore, we collated data on urban presence, phylogenetic relationship, and ecological traits of 54 insectivorous bats in Africa from available literature to test if their response to urbanization was phylogenetically and/or ecologically driven. Ancestral state reconstruction of urban tolerance, defined by functional group and presence observed in urban areas, suggests that ancestral African bat species could adapt to urban landscapes, and significant phylogenetic signal for urban tolerance indicates that this ability is evolutionarily conserved and mediated by pre-adaptations. Specifically, traits of high wing loading and aspect ratio, and flexible roosting strategies, enable occupancy of urban areas. Therefore, our results identify the traits that predict which bat species will likely occur in urban areas, and which vulnerable bat clades conservation efforts should focus on to reduce loss of both functional and phylogenetic diversity in Africa. We, additionally, highlight several gaps in research that should be investigated in future studies to provide better monitoring of the impact urbanization will have on African bats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genevieve E Marsden
- Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban South Africa
| | - Dalene Vosloo
- Centre for Functional Biodiversity, School of Life Sciences University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban South Africa
| | - M Corrie Schoeman
- School of Life Sciences University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban South Africa
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2
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Slough BG, Reid DG, Schultz DS, Leung MC. Little brown bat activity patterns and conservation implications in agricultural landscapes in boreal Yukon, Canada. Ecosphere 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Donald G. Reid
- Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Whitehorse Yukon Canada
| | - Dafna S. Schultz
- Department of Resource and Environmental Management Dalhousie University Halifax Nova Scotia Canada
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3
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Balzer EW, McBurney TS, Broders HG. Little brown Myotis roosts are spatially associated with foraging resources on Prince Edward Island. WILDLIFE SOC B 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/wsb.1405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Evan W. Balzer
- University of Waterloo 200 University Avenue West Waterloo ON N2L 3G2 Canada
| | - Tessa S. McBurney
- Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Atlantic Region, Atlantic Veterinary College University of Prince Edward Island 550 University Avenue Charlottetown PE C1A 4P3 Canada
| | - Hugh G. Broders
- University of Waterloo 200 University Avenue West Waterloo ON N2L 3G2 Canada
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Cole HJ, Gomes DGE, Barber JR. EcoCountHelper: an R package and analytical pipeline for the analysis of ecological count data using GLMMs, and a case study of bats in Grand Teton National Park. PeerJ 2022; 10:e14509. [PMID: 36536627 PMCID: PMC9758971 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Here we detail the use of an R package, 'EcoCountHelper', and an associated analytical pipeline aimed at making generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM)-based analysis of ecological count data more accessible. We recommend a GLMM-based analysis workflow that allows the user to (1) employ selection of distributional forms (Poisson vs negative binomial) and zero-inflation (ZIP and ZINB, respectively) using AIC and variance-mean plots, (2) examine models for goodness-of-fit using simulated residual diagnostics, (3) interpret model results via easy to understand outputs of changes in predicted responses, and (4) compare the magnitude of predictor variable effects via effects plots. Our package uses a series of easy-to-use functions that can accept both wide- and long-form multi-taxa count data without the need for programming experience. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, we use our package to model acoustic bat activity data relative to multiple landscape characteristics in a protected area (Grand Teton National Park), which is threatened by encroaching disease-white nose syndrome. Global threats to bat conservation such as disease and deforestation have prompted extensive research to better understand bat ecology. Notwithstanding these efforts, managers operating on lands crucial to the persistence of bat populations are often equipped with too little information regarding local bat activity to make informed land-management decisions. In our case study in the Tetons, we found that an increased prevalence of porous buildings increases activity levels of Eptesicus fuscus and Myotis volans; Myotis lucifugus activity decreases as distance to water increases; and Myotis volans activity increases with the amount of forested area. By using GLMMs in tandem with 'EcoCountHelper', managers without advanced programmatic or statistical expertise can assess the effects of landscape characteristics on wildlife in a statistically-robust framework.
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Marsden GE, Schoeman MC, Vosloo D. Rewarming rates of seven insectivorous bat species along an altitudinal gradient in South Africa. J Therm Biol 2022; 110:103341. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2022.103341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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6
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Neubaum DJ, Aagaard K. Use of predictive distribution models to describe habitat selection by bats in Colorado, USA. J Wildl Manage 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.22178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J. Neubaum
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife Terrestrial Section 711 Independent Avenue Grand Junction CO 81505 USA
| | - Kevin Aagaard
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife Avian Research Section 317 West Prospect Road Fort Collins CO 80526 USA
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7
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Stachyra P, Piskorski M, Tchórzewski M, Łopuszyńska-Stachyra K, Mysłajek RW. Importance of anthropogenic winter roosts for endangered hibernating bats. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.25225/jvb.21071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Michał Piskorski
- Department of Anatomy and Comparative Anthropology, Institute of Biology, University of Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Lublin, Poland; e-mail:
| | | | | | - Robert W. Mysłajek
- Department of Ecology, Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Warszawa, Poland; e-mail:
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8
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OUP accepted manuscript. J Mammal 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyac019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Schorr RA, Siemers JL. Population dynamics of little brown bats ( Myotis lucifugus) at summer roosts: Apparent survival, fidelity, abundance, and the influence of winter conditions. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:7427-7438. [PMID: 34188824 PMCID: PMC8216974 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2020] [Revised: 03/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
White-nose syndrome (WNS) has caused the death of millions of bats, but the impacts have been more difficult to identify in western North America. Understanding how WNS, or other threats, impacts western bats may require monitoring other roosts, such as maternity roosts and night roosts, where bats aggregate in large numbers.Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) are experiencing some of the greatest declines from WNS. Estimating survival and understanding population dynamics can provide valuable data for assessing population declines and informing conservation efforts.We conducted a 5-year mark-recapture study of two M. lucifugus roosts in Colorado. We used the robust design model to estimate apparent survival, fidelity, and abundance to understand population dynamics, and environmental covariates to understand how summer and winter weather conditions impact adult female survival. We compared the fidelity and capture probability of M. lucifugus between colonies to understand how bats use such roosts.Overwinter survival increased with the number of days with temperatures below freezing (β > 0.100, SE = 0.003) and decreased with the number of days with snow cover (β < -0.40, SE < 0.13). Adult female fidelity was higher at one maternity roost than the other. Overwinter and oversummer adult female survival was high (>0.90), and based on survival estimates and fungal-swabbing results, we believe these populations have yet to experience WNS.Recapture of M. lucifugus using antennas that continuously read passive integrated transponder tags allows rigorous estimation of bat population parameters that can elucidate trends in abundance and changes in survival. Monitoring populations at summer roosts can provide unique population ecology data that monitoring hibernacula alone may not. Because few adult males are captured at maternity colonies, and juvenile males have low fidelity, additional effort should focus on understanding male M. lucifugus population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert A. Schorr
- Colorado Natural Heritage ProgramColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCOUSA
| | - Jeremy L. Siemers
- Colorado Natural Heritage ProgramColorado State UniversityFort CollinsCOUSA
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Waag AG, Treanor JJ, Kropczynski JN, Johnson JS. Social networks based on frequency of roost cohabitation do not reflect association rates of Myotis lucifugus within their roosts. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:5927-5936. [PMID: 34141193 PMCID: PMC8207371 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2020] [Revised: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Bats are a group of mammals well known for forming dynamic social groups. Studies of bat social structures are often based upon the frequency at which bats occupy the same roosts because observing bats directly is not always possible. However, it is not always clear how closely bats occupying the same roost associate with each other, obscuring whether associations result from social relationships or factors such as shared preferences for roosts. Our goal was to determine if bats cohabitating buildings were also found together inside roosts by using anti-collision technology for PIT tags, which enables simultaneous detection of multiple tags. We PIT-tagged 293 female little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) and installed antennas within two buildings used as maternity roosts in Yellowstone National Park. Antennas were positioned at roost entryways to generate cohabitation networks and along regions of attic ceilings in each building to generate intraroost networks based on proximity of bats to each other. We found that intraroost and cohabitation networks of buildings were significantly correlated, with the same bats tending to be linked in both networks, but that bats cohabitating the same building often roosted apart, leading to differing assessments of social structure. Cohabitation rates implied that bats associate with a greater number of their roost-mates than was supported by observations within the roost. This caused social networks built upon roost cohabitation rates to be denser, smaller in diameter, and contain nodes with higher average degree centrality. These results show that roost cohabitation does not reflect preference for roost-mates in little brown myotis, as is often inferred from similar studies, and that social network analyses based on cohabitation may provide misleading results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Austin G. Waag
- Department of Biological SciencesOhio UniversityAthensOHUSA
| | - John J. Treanor
- United States National Park ServiceYellowstone National ParkMammoth Hot SpringsWYUSA
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11
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Thomas JP, Kukka PM, Benjamin JE, Barclay RMR, Johnson CJ, Schmiegelow FKA, Jung TS. Foraging habitat drives the distribution of an endangered bat in an urbanizing boreal landscape. Ecosphere 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Julie P. Thomas
- Department of Environment Government of Yukon Whitehorse YukonY1A 4Y9Canada
| | - Piia M. Kukka
- Department of Environment Government of Yukon Whitehorse YukonY1A 4Y9Canada
| | | | - Robert M. R. Barclay
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Calgary Calgary AlbertaT2N 1N4Canada
| | - Chris J. Johnson
- Ecosystem Science and Management Program University of Northern British Columbia Prince George British ColumbiaV2N 4Z9Canada
| | - Fiona K. A. Schmiegelow
- Department of Renewable Resources University of Alberta Edmonton AlbertaT6G 2R3Canada
- Yukon Research Centre Yukon University Whitehorse YukonY1A 5K4Canada
| | - Thomas S. Jung
- Department of Environment Government of Yukon Whitehorse YukonY1A 4Y9Canada
- Department of Renewable Resources University of Alberta Edmonton AlbertaT6G 2R3Canada
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Geiser F. Seasonal Expression of Avian and Mammalian Daily Torpor and Hibernation: Not a Simple Summer-Winter Affair †. Front Physiol 2020; 11:436. [PMID: 32508673 PMCID: PMC7251182 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Daily torpor and hibernation (multiday torpor) are the most efficient means for energy conservation in endothermic birds and mammals and are used by many small species to deal with a number of challenges. These include seasonal adverse environmental conditions and low food/water availability, periods of high energetic demands, but also reduced foraging options because of high predation pressure. Because such challenges differ among regions, habitats and food consumed by animals, the seasonal expression of torpor also varies, but the seasonality of torpor is often not as clear-cut as is commonly assumed and differs between hibernators and daily heterotherms expressing daily torpor exclusively. Hibernation is found in mammals from all three subclasses from the arctic to the tropics, but is known for only one bird. Several hibernators can hibernate for an entire year or express torpor throughout the year (8% of species) and more hibernate from late summer to spring (14%). The most typical hibernation season is the cold season from fall to spring (48%), whereas hibernation is rarely restricted to winter (6%). In hibernators, torpor expression changes significantly with season, with strong seasonality mainly found in the sciurid and cricetid rodents, but seasonality is less pronounced in the marsupials, bats and dormice. Daily torpor is diverse in both mammals and birds, typically is not as seasonal as hibernation and torpor expression does not change significantly with season. Torpor in spring/summer has several selective advantages including: energy and water conservation, facilitation of reproduction or growth during development with limited resources, or minimisation of foraging and thus exposure to predators. When torpor is expressed in spring/summer it is usually not as deep and long as in winter, because of higher ambient temperatures, but also due to seasonal functional plasticity. Unlike many other species, subtropical nectarivorous blossom-bats and desert spiny mice use more frequent and pronounced torpor in summer than in winter, which is related to seasonal availability of nectar or water. Thus, seasonal use of torpor is complex and differs among species and habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fritz Geiser
- Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology CO2, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
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