Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas
Abstract Urbanization has significant impacts on wildlife and ecosystems and acts as an environmental filter excluding certain species from local ecological communities. Specifically, it may be challenging for some animals to find enough food in urban environments to achieve a positive energy balanc...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17063 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17063 |
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.17063 2024-06-02T08:12:26+00:00 Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas Stidsholt, Laura Scholz, Carolin Hermanns, Uwe Teige, Tobias Post, Martin Stapelfeldt, Bianca Reusch, Christine Voigt, Christian C. Villum Fonden 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17063 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17063 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Global Change Biology volume 30, issue 1 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17063 2024-05-03T11:23:00Z Abstract Urbanization has significant impacts on wildlife and ecosystems and acts as an environmental filter excluding certain species from local ecological communities. Specifically, it may be challenging for some animals to find enough food in urban environments to achieve a positive energy balance. Because urban environments favor small‐sized bats with low energy requirements, we hypothesized that common noctules ( Nyctalus noctula ) acquire food at a slower rate and rely less on conspecifics to find prey in urban than in rural environments due to a low food abundance and predictable distribution of insects in urban environments. To address this, we estimated prey sizes and measured prey capture rates, foraging efforts, and the presence of conspecifics during hunting of 22 common noctule bats equipped with sensor loggers in an urban and rural environment. Even though common noctule bats hunted similar‐sized prey in both environments, urban bats captured prey at a lower rate (mean: 2.4 vs. 6.3 prey attacks/min), and a lower total amount of prey (mean: 179 vs. 377 prey attacks/foraging bout) than conspecifics from rural environments. Consequently, the energy expended to capture prey was higher for common noctules in urban than in rural environments. In line with our prediction, urban bats relied less on group hunting, likely because group hunting was unnecessary in an environment where the spatial distribution of prey insects is predictable, for example, in parks or around floodlights. While acknowledging the limitations of a small sample size and low number of spatial replicates, our study suggests that scarce food resources may make urban habitats unfavorable for large bat species with higher energy requirements compared to smaller bat species. In conclusion, a lower food intake may displace larger species from urban areas making habitats with high insect biomass production key for protecting large bat species in urban environments. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nyctalus noctula Wiley Online Library Global Change Biology 30 1 |
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Abstract Urbanization has significant impacts on wildlife and ecosystems and acts as an environmental filter excluding certain species from local ecological communities. Specifically, it may be challenging for some animals to find enough food in urban environments to achieve a positive energy balance. Because urban environments favor small‐sized bats with low energy requirements, we hypothesized that common noctules ( Nyctalus noctula ) acquire food at a slower rate and rely less on conspecifics to find prey in urban than in rural environments due to a low food abundance and predictable distribution of insects in urban environments. To address this, we estimated prey sizes and measured prey capture rates, foraging efforts, and the presence of conspecifics during hunting of 22 common noctule bats equipped with sensor loggers in an urban and rural environment. Even though common noctule bats hunted similar‐sized prey in both environments, urban bats captured prey at a lower rate (mean: 2.4 vs. 6.3 prey attacks/min), and a lower total amount of prey (mean: 179 vs. 377 prey attacks/foraging bout) than conspecifics from rural environments. Consequently, the energy expended to capture prey was higher for common noctules in urban than in rural environments. In line with our prediction, urban bats relied less on group hunting, likely because group hunting was unnecessary in an environment where the spatial distribution of prey insects is predictable, for example, in parks or around floodlights. While acknowledging the limitations of a small sample size and low number of spatial replicates, our study suggests that scarce food resources may make urban habitats unfavorable for large bat species with higher energy requirements compared to smaller bat species. In conclusion, a lower food intake may displace larger species from urban areas making habitats with high insect biomass production key for protecting large bat species in urban environments. |
author2 |
Villum Fonden |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stidsholt, Laura Scholz, Carolin Hermanns, Uwe Teige, Tobias Post, Martin Stapelfeldt, Bianca Reusch, Christine Voigt, Christian C. |
spellingShingle |
Stidsholt, Laura Scholz, Carolin Hermanns, Uwe Teige, Tobias Post, Martin Stapelfeldt, Bianca Reusch, Christine Voigt, Christian C. Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
author_facet |
Stidsholt, Laura Scholz, Carolin Hermanns, Uwe Teige, Tobias Post, Martin Stapelfeldt, Bianca Reusch, Christine Voigt, Christian C. |
author_sort |
Stidsholt, Laura |
title |
Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
title_short |
Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
title_full |
Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
title_fullStr |
Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
title_sort |
low foraging rates drive large insectivorous bats away from urban areas |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17063 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.17063 |
genre |
Nyctalus noctula |
genre_facet |
Nyctalus noctula |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 30, issue 1 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17063 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1800758847347884032 |