In North America, Mexican free‐tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana) consume vast numbers of insects contributing to the economic well‐being of society. Mexican free‐tailed bats have declined due to historic guano mining, roost destruction, and bioaccumulation of organochlorine pesticides. Long‐distance migrations and dense congregations at roosts exacerbate these declines. Wind energy development further threatens bat communities worldwide and presents emerging challenges to bat conservation. Effective mitigation of bat mortality at wind energy facilities requires baseline data on the biology of affected populations. We collected data on age, sex, and reproductive condition of Mexican free‐tailed bats at a cave roost in eastern Nevada located 6 km from a 152‐MW industrial wind energy facility. Over 5 years, we captured 46,353 Mexican free‐tailed bats. Although just over half of the caught individuals were nonreproductive adult males (53.6%), 826 pregnant, 892 lactating, 10,101 post‐lactating, and 4327 nonreproductive adult females were captured. Juveniles comprised 11.5% of captures. Female reproductive phenology was delayed relative to conspecific roosts at lower latitudes, likely due to cooler temperatures. Roost use by reproductive females and juvenile bats demonstrates this site is a maternity roost, with significant ecological and conservation value. To our knowledge, no other industrial scale wind energy facilities exist in such proximity to a heavily used bat roost in North America. Given the susceptibility of Mexican free‐tailed bats to wind turbine mortality and the proximity of this roost to a wind energy facility, these data provide a foundation from which differential impacts on demographic groups can be assessed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.