Habitat use in the Female Alpine Long-Eared Bat (<i>Plecotus macrobullaris</i>): Does Breeding Make the Difference?

Preatoni, Damiano; Spada, Martina; Wauters, Luc A.; Tosi, Guido; Martinoli, Adriano

doi:10.3161/150811011x624820

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This latter hypothesis seems to be supported by mist-net captures in Croatian forests and roost placements in Switzerland [48] , [57] . Nevertheless, in a recently published radio-tracking study carried out in a nursery colony in Northern Italy bats avoided woods when foraging, selecting open rural areas and ecotones [58] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Foraging Ecology of the Mountain Long-Eared Bat Plecotus macrobullaris Revealed with DNA Mini-Barcodes

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Molecular analysis of diet overcomes the considerable limitations of traditional techniques for identifying prey remains in bat faeces. We collected faeces from individual Mountain Long-eared Bats Plecotus macrobullaris trapped using mist nets during the summers of 2009 and 2010 in the Pyrenees. We analysed their diet using DNA mini-barcodes to identify prey species. In addition, we inferred some basic features of the bat's foraging ecology that had not yet been addressed. P. macrobullaris fed almost exclusively on moths (97.8%). As prey we detected one dipteran genus (Tipulidae) and 29 moth taxa: 28 were identified at species level (23 Noctuidae, 1 Crambidae, 1 Geometridae, 1 Pyralidae, 1 Sphingidae, 1 Tortricidae), and one at genus level (Rhyacia sp., Noctuidae). Known ecological information about the prey species allowed us to determine that bats had foraged at elevations between 1,500 and 2,500 m amsl (above mean sea level), mostly in subalpine meadows, followed by other open habitats such as orophilous grasslands and alpine meadows. No forest prey species were identified in the diet. As 96.4% of identified prey species were tympanate moths and no evidence of gleaning behaviour was revealed, we suggest P. macrobullaris probably forages by aerial hawking using faint echolocation pulses to avoid detection by hearing moths. As we could identify 87.8% of the analysed sequences (64.1% of the MOTUs, Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units) at species level, we conclude that DNA mini-barcodes are a very useful tool to analyse the diet of moth-specialist bats.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Foraging Ecology of the Mountain Long-Eared Bat Plecotus macrobullaris Revealed with DNA Mini-Barcodes

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The mean foraging distance (±SD) from the roost of P. austriacus and P. macrobullaris was more than twice that of P. auritus (2.9 ± 1.5, 2.5 ± 1.6 and 1.2 ± 0.6 km, respectively), which is still longer than that determined for P. macrobullaris in the Southern Alps (1.1 ± 1.5 km, Preatoni et al 2011). Suitable foraging sites for these bats were typically isolated and dispersed in the landscape.…”

Section: Foraging Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…In addition to two sympatric Plecotus species (Plecotus auritus and P. austriacus), molecular markers have identified a third ''cryptic species'', i.e. a ''distinct species erroneously classified under one species name'' (Bickford et al 2007), namely, P. macrobullaris in the alpine area of Central Europe (Kiefer and Veith 2001;Kiefer et al 2002;Spitzenberger et al 2003;Ashrafi et al 2010;Preatoni et al 2011). These cryptic species overlap in most morphometric characters (Ashrafi et al 2010) and are therefore expected to show very similar flight characteristics, notably in terms of speed and manoeuvrability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat selection of three cryptic Plecotus bat species in the European Alps reveals contrasting implications for conservation

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Assessing the ecological requirements of species coexisting within a community is an essential requisite for developing sound conservation action. A particularly interesting question is what mechanisms govern the stable coexistence of cryptic species within a community, i.e. species that are almost impossible to distinguish. Resource partitioning theory predicts that cryptic species, like other sympatric taxa, will occupy distinct ecological niches. This prediction is widely inferred from eco-morphological studies. A new cryptic long-eared bat species, Plecotus macrobullaris, has been recently discovered in the complex of two other species present in the European Alps, with even evidence for a few mixed colonies. This discovery poses challenges to bat ecologists concerned with planning conservation measures beyond roost protection. We therefore tested whether foraging habitat segregation occurred among the three cryptic Plecotus bat species in Switzerland by radiotracking 24 breeding female bats (8 of each species). We compared habitat features at locations visited by a bat versus random locations within individual home ranges, applying mixed effects logistic regression. Distinct, species-specific habitat preferences were revealed.

show abstract

“…For example, in several studies performed in the Swiss Alps (Rutishauser et al 2012, Ashrafi et al 2013, P. macrobullaris was reported to select deciduous forest habitats for foraging and roosting, which led them to assume a high ecological resemblance to the forest specialist P. auritus. However, Preatoni et al (2011) stated that in the Italian Alps the species avoids woodlands while Dietrich et al (2006) described the echolocation characteristics of P. macrobullaris as closer to those of P. austriacus than P. auritus. To further blur the picture, the alpine long-eared bat had been captured in forests in Croatia (Tvrtkovic et al 2005) but also in totally deforested areas in the Pyrenees (Garin et al 2003), in Crete (Benda et al 2008) and in Iran (Benda et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology, biogeography and evolutionary history of the alpine longeared bat Plecotus macrobullaris

Alberdi

Aizpurua

Aihartza

et al. 2016

Galemys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Habitat use in the Female Alpine Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus macrobullaris): Does Breeding Make the Difference?

Abstract: Recent discoveries of several new, cryptic bat species in Europe, and the growing importance of bat conservation have resulted in an increased research effort to study roost site selection, habitat use and spacing/foraging behaviour of (rare) bat species (

Cited by 19 publications

References 43 publications

The Foraging Ecology of the Mountain Long-Eared Bat Plecotus macrobullaris Revealed with DNA Mini-Barcodes

The Foraging Ecology of the Mountain Long-Eared Bat Plecotus macrobullaris Revealed with DNA Mini-Barcodes

Habitat selection of three cryptic Plecotus bat species in the European Alps reveals contrasting implications for conservation

Ecology, biogeography and evolutionary history of the alpine longeared bat Plecotus macrobullaris

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About