High Rates of Winter Activity and Arousals in Two New England Bat Species: Implications for a Reduced White-Nose Syndrome Impact?

Reynolds, D. Scott; Shoemaker, Kevin T.; Oettingen, Susi von; Najjar, Stephen

doi:10.1656/045.024.s720

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Specifically, we predicted that cave-exiting activity would increase for Townsend’s big-eared bats, in large caves, and with more hibernating bats in large clusters 10 , 40 , 46 , 47 . Also, we predicted that bats would be more active during warm, calm nights 3 , 15 , and that those patterns would hold across all caves. These results provide insight into winter behavior of these species and baseline data of cave-exiting activity after arousal from torpor during hibernation prior to the arrival of white-nose syndrome.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Detectors were powered by external batteries and solar panels 3 , 10 , 52 . Each unit was equipped with a protective cover (BatHat) to reduce damage to equipment from rain, snow, and freezing temperatures 53 ; eight directional microphones had reflector plates oriented at 45° angle from the center axis of the microphone 3 , 53 , 54 , and the directional microphone at one cave (C54) did not have a reflector plate, because of unique cave characteristics. Detectors were programmed to record at least from sunset to sunrise 16 , 55 , 56 , and the division ratio was set at eight 54 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That response variable was an index of bat activity and not abundance 37 , 52 . Our predictor variables were detector number, year, cave, cave length (m), cave type (lava blister or collapsed lava tube), mean number of hibernating bats counted in each cave, mean cluster size, and mean number of clusters observed during counts in each cave 3 , 37 , 61 . We included mean temperature (°C), mean % relative humidity, mean wind speed (m/s) from ½ hour before sunset to ½ hour after sunrise.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hibernating bats arouse from torpor (i.e., controlled reductions in body temperature and metabolism to conserve energy) and exit caves during winter because of internal cues and environmental changes 1 – 3 . Some bats arouse in winter and change positions or fly to another hibernaculum 4 – 6 , often because other bats arouse and fly 7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Female bats arouse for shorter duration than males 5 , 8 , 9 , and younger bats can have shorter torpor bouts than older bats 2 . Some bats arouse from torpor and fly to potentially find food, water 10 – 12 , or urinate 3 ; while others try to mate 2 , 4 . Arousal from torpor during hibernation may be spontaneous or caused by shifts in temperature and humidity from moving weather fronts 4 , 6 , 13 and changes in barometric pressure 13 – 15 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long-term patterns of cave-exiting activity of hibernating bats in western North America

Whiting

Doering²,

Aho

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Understanding frequency and variation of cave-exiting activity after arousal from torpor of hibernating bats is important for bat ecology and conservation, especially considering white-nose syndrome. In winter from 2011 to 2018, we acoustically monitored, and counted in hibernacula, two species of conservation concern—western small-footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum) and Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii)—in 9 caves located in important habitat for these species in western North America. We investigated if cave-exiting activity differed by species, cave, number of hibernating bats, moon phase, and weather variables. Both species exited hibernacula during all winter months, but most activity occurred in March followed by November. Although we counted almost 15 times more Townsend’s big-eared bats during hibernacula surveys, we documented western small-footed myotis exiting caves 3 times more than Townsend’s big-eared bats. Cave-exiting activity increased with increasing number of hibernating bats, but more so for western small-footed myotis. Both species of bats were active during warm weather and low wind speeds. Western small-footed myotis were more active during colder temperatures, higher wind speeds, and greater change in barometric pressure than Townsend’s big-eared bats. Our results provide a long-term dataset of cave-exiting activity after arousal from torpor during hibernation for these species before the arrival of white-nose syndrome.

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