Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada

Intraspecific variation in diet and (or) foraging behaviour is one way in which species are able to occupy wide geographical areas with variable environments. The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte, 1831)), a primarily aerial insectivorous bat, consumes spiders in low temperatures at the s...

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Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Maucieri, D.G., Barclay, R.M.R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
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spelling crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjz-2020-0160 2024-09-15T18:26:33+00:00 Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada Maucieri, D.G. Barclay, R.M.R. 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 99, issue 3, page 221-226 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2021 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160 2024-09-05T04:11:16Z Intraspecific variation in diet and (or) foraging behaviour is one way in which species are able to occupy wide geographical areas with variable environments. The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte, 1831)), a primarily aerial insectivorous bat, consumes spiders in low temperatures at the start and end of summer in Northwest Territories, Canada, but it consumes spiders all summer, even during high aerial insect abundance, in Alaska, USA. There are no competitors of M. lucifugus in Alaska, but there are in Northwest Territories, suggesting that aerial insect abundance and competition from gleaning bats influences when M. lucifugus consumes spiders. In the Kananaskis area of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada, we investigated spider consumption by M. lucifugus and the long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis (H. Allen, 1864)), a species more adept at gleaning, to better understand when bats consume spiders. Fecal sample analysis indicated that M. evotis consumed spiders all season long, with greater consumption when the bats were caught near water. Myotis lucifugus did not consume spiders at all. This suggests that M. lucifugus opportunistically consumes spiders when encountered, but does not encounter them in Kananaskis where it forages primarily over open water, unlike in Northwest Territories where it forages in the interior of forests and may encounter spiders more frequently. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Territories Alaska Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 99 3 221 226
institution Open Polar
collection Canadian Science Publishing
op_collection_id crcansciencepubl
language English
description Intraspecific variation in diet and (or) foraging behaviour is one way in which species are able to occupy wide geographical areas with variable environments. The little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus (Le Conte, 1831)), a primarily aerial insectivorous bat, consumes spiders in low temperatures at the start and end of summer in Northwest Territories, Canada, but it consumes spiders all summer, even during high aerial insect abundance, in Alaska, USA. There are no competitors of M. lucifugus in Alaska, but there are in Northwest Territories, suggesting that aerial insect abundance and competition from gleaning bats influences when M. lucifugus consumes spiders. In the Kananaskis area of the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada, we investigated spider consumption by M. lucifugus and the long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis (H. Allen, 1864)), a species more adept at gleaning, to better understand when bats consume spiders. Fecal sample analysis indicated that M. evotis consumed spiders all season long, with greater consumption when the bats were caught near water. Myotis lucifugus did not consume spiders at all. This suggests that M. lucifugus opportunistically consumes spiders when encountered, but does not encounter them in Kananaskis where it forages primarily over open water, unlike in Northwest Territories where it forages in the interior of forests and may encounter spiders more frequently.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Maucieri, D.G.
Barclay, R.M.R.
spellingShingle Maucieri, D.G.
Barclay, R.M.R.
Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
author_facet Maucieri, D.G.
Barclay, R.M.R.
author_sort Maucieri, D.G.
title Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
title_short Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
title_full Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
title_fullStr Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
title_full_unstemmed Consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( Myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( Myotis evotis) in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada
title_sort consumption of spiders by the little brown bat ( myotis lucifugus) and the long-eared myotis ( myotis evotis) in the rocky mountains of alberta, canada
publisher Canadian Science Publishing
publishDate 2021
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
genre Northwest Territories
Alaska
genre_facet Northwest Territories
Alaska
op_source Canadian Journal of Zoology
volume 99, issue 3, page 221-226
ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283
op_rights http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2020-0160
container_title Canadian Journal of Zoology
container_volume 99
container_issue 3
container_start_page 221
op_container_end_page 226
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