Body mass explains digestive traits in small vespertilionid bats

Cabrera‐Campos, Iván; Carballo-Morales, Jorge D.; Saldaña‐Vázquez, Romeo A.; Villalobos, Federico; Ayala-Berdon, Jorge

doi:10.1007/s00360-021-01348-y

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…According to these hypotheses:1) bats experienced a generalized M b reduction while refining their capacity to fly. Likewise, here we found that the estimated common ancestor of bats of the family Vespertilionidae had a M b of 15 g and the extant bat species presented a mean M b value of 10.4 g. These values are comparable to those reported by Cabrera-Campos et al (2021) for bats of the family Vespertilionidae (15 g and 9.6 g for the common ancestor and the extant bat species, respectively). 2) The reduction in M b was followed by a stasis among a median value of M b , and subsequent decreases and increases in M b in specific clades of the phylogeny (Hutcheon & Garland, 2004; Safi et al, 2005; Giannini et al, 2012; Moyers Arévalo et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Similarly, in this work we identified five species that independently evolved M b > 30 g, and three genera and two species that evolved M b < 4.0 g. These differences may account for the high diversity of M b that can be found within bats of the family Vespertilionidae, which may vary as much as one order of magnitude among species (Jones & Purvis, 1997; Safi et al, 2013). The changes in M b throughout the evolutionary history of bats may have affected many of their life-history traits (Moyers Arévalo et al, 2018; Cabrera-Campos et al, 2021). Because there is strong evidence that M b and some thermal traits as BMR have not evolved independently in mammals (White et al, 2019), the changes in M b along their evolutionary history should have resulted in modifications in thermal energetics of bats of the family Vespertilionidae.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a M b decrement could have reduced the animals’ capacity to acquire energy, as the intestinal length and nominal-surface-area tend to decrease proportionally with M b in bats (Klite, 1965; Caviedes-Vidal et al, 2007). To resolve this difficulty, it has been hypothesized that bats of the family Vespertilionidae have increased the apparent dry matter digestibility in their small intestines in response to the reduction of M b over their evolutionary history (Cabrera-Campos et al, 2021). Nevertheless, although with many differences among ecosystems, food availability tends to be highly variable with important energy bottlenecks in certain seasons of the year (Nagy et al, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Thermal energetics of bats of the family Vespertilionidae: an evolutionary approach

Ayala-Berdon,

Medina-Bello,

Carballo-Morales

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Thermal energetics define the way animals spend energy for thermoregulation. In this regard, numerous studies have determined that body mass (Mb) is the most influential morphological trait affecting the thermal traits in different species of birds and mammals. However, most of the studies have been focused on the basal metabolic rate (BMR), while other thermal traits have been less studied.We addressed this gap by examining thermal variables on bats of the family Vespertilionidae. Using open-flow respirometry, we measuredBMR, absolute thermal conductance (C’), lower and upper critical temperatures (TLCandTUC), and the breadth of the thermoneutral zone (TNZb) of 15 bat species varying inMbfrom ∼ 4.0 to 21.0 g from central Mexico. We: 1) combined our empirical data with information gathered from the bibliography and conducted phylogenetic analyses to investigate the relationship betweenMband thermal traits, and 2) mapped the thermal energetic values along the phylogeny to explore how they may have evolved.We found a positive relationship betweenMbandBMRand absoluteC’, and a negative relationship betweenMbandTLCandTUC. However, we did not find a relationship betweenMbandTNZbin bats. The phylogenetic approach suggested that over the evolutionary history of bats,BMRandC’ have decreased whileTLCandTUChave increased.Our results suggest that adaptive changes inMband thermal traits may have influenced the geographical distribution and the use of energy-saving strategies of the different species of bats of the family Vespertilionidae.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Thermal energetics of bats of the family Vespertilionidae: an evolutionary approach

Ayala-Berdon,

Medina-Bello,

Carballo-Morales

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Energetics of foraging bats

McGuire,

Boyles

2024

A Natural History of Bat Foraging

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High latitude northern bats (Eptesicus nilssonii) reveal adaptations to both high and low ambient temperatures

Sørås,

Fjelldal,

Bech

et al. 2023

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Insectivorous bats at northern latitudes need to cope with long periods of no food for large parts of the year. Hence, bats which are resident at northern latitudes throughout the year will need to undergo a long hibernation season and a short reproductive season where foraging time is limited by extended daylight periods. Eptesicus nilssonii is the northernmost occurring bat species worldwide and hibernates locally when ambient temperatures (Ta) limit prey availability. Therefore, we investigated the energy spent maintaining normothermy at different Ta, as well as how much bats limit energy expenditure while in torpor. We found that, despite being exposed to Ta as low as 1.1°C, bats did not increase torpid metabolic rate, thus indicating that E. nilssonii can survive and hibernate at low ambient temperatures. Furthermore, we found a lower critical temperature (Tlc) of 27.8°C, which is lower than in most other vespertilionid bats, and we found no indication of any metabolic response to Ta up to 37.1°C. Interestingly, carbon dioxide production increased with increasing Ta above the Tlc, presumably caused by a release of retained CO2 in bats that remained in torpor for longer and aroused at Ta above the Tlc. Our results indicate that E. nilssonii can thermoconform at near-freezing Ta, and hence maintain longer torpor bouts with limited energy expenditure, yet also cope with high Ta when sun exposed in roosts during long summer days. These physiological traits are likely to enable the species to cope with ongoing and predicted climate change.

show abstract

Body mass explains digestive traits in small vespertilionid bats

Cited by 6 publications

References 67 publications

Thermal energetics of bats of the family Vespertilionidae: an evolutionary approach

Thermal energetics of bats of the family Vespertilionidae: an evolutionary approach

Energetics of foraging bats

High latitude northern bats (Eptesicus nilssonii) reveal adaptations to both high and low ambient temperatures

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About