The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability
Abstract Variation in prey resources influences the diet and behaviour of predators. When prey become limiting, predators may travel farther to find preferred food or adjust to existing local resources. When predators are habitat limited, local resource abundance impacts foraging success. We analyse...
Published in: | Molecular Ecology |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12542 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.12542 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.12542 |
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crwiley:10.1111/mec.12542 2024-09-30T14:40:26+00:00 The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability Clare, Elizabeth L. Symondson, William O. C. Broders, Hugh Fabianek, François Fraser, Erin E. MacKenzie, Alistair Boughen, Andrew Hamilton, Rachel Willis, Craig K. R. Martinez‐Nuñez, Felix Menzies, Allyson K. Norquay, Kaleigh J. O. Brigham, Mark Poissant, Joseph Rintoul, Jody Barclay, Robert M. R. Reimer, Jesika P. K.M. Molson foundation 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12542 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.12542 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.12542 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1 Molecular Ecology volume 23, issue 15, page 3618-3632 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X journal-article 2013 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12542 2024-09-17T04:48:45Z Abstract Variation in prey resources influences the diet and behaviour of predators. When prey become limiting, predators may travel farther to find preferred food or adjust to existing local resources. When predators are habitat limited, local resource abundance impacts foraging success. We analysed the diet of Myotis lucifugus (little brown bats) from Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) to the Northwest Territories (north‐western Canada). This distribution includes extremes of season length and temperature and encompasses colonies on rural monoculture farms, and in urban and unmodified areas. We recognized nearly 600 distinct species of prey, of which ≈30% could be identified using reference sequence libraries. We found a higher than expected use of lepidopterans, which comprised a range of dietary richness from ≈35% early in the summer to ≈55% by late summer. Diptera were the second largest prey group consumed, representing ≈45% of dietary diversity early in the summer. We observed extreme local dietary variability and variation among seasons and years. Based on the species of insects that were consumed, we observed that two locations support prey species with extremely low pollution and acidification tolerances, suggesting that these are areas without environmental contamination. We conclude that there is significant local population variability in little brown bat diet that is likely driven by seasonal and geographical changes in insect diversity, and that this prey may be a good indicator of environment quality. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Territories Wiley Online Library Northwest Territories Canada Molecular Ecology 23 15 3618 3632 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Variation in prey resources influences the diet and behaviour of predators. When prey become limiting, predators may travel farther to find preferred food or adjust to existing local resources. When predators are habitat limited, local resource abundance impacts foraging success. We analysed the diet of Myotis lucifugus (little brown bats) from Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) to the Northwest Territories (north‐western Canada). This distribution includes extremes of season length and temperature and encompasses colonies on rural monoculture farms, and in urban and unmodified areas. We recognized nearly 600 distinct species of prey, of which ≈30% could be identified using reference sequence libraries. We found a higher than expected use of lepidopterans, which comprised a range of dietary richness from ≈35% early in the summer to ≈55% by late summer. Diptera were the second largest prey group consumed, representing ≈45% of dietary diversity early in the summer. We observed extreme local dietary variability and variation among seasons and years. Based on the species of insects that were consumed, we observed that two locations support prey species with extremely low pollution and acidification tolerances, suggesting that these are areas without environmental contamination. We conclude that there is significant local population variability in little brown bat diet that is likely driven by seasonal and geographical changes in insect diversity, and that this prey may be a good indicator of environment quality. |
author2 |
K.M. Molson foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clare, Elizabeth L. Symondson, William O. C. Broders, Hugh Fabianek, François Fraser, Erin E. MacKenzie, Alistair Boughen, Andrew Hamilton, Rachel Willis, Craig K. R. Martinez‐Nuñez, Felix Menzies, Allyson K. Norquay, Kaleigh J. O. Brigham, Mark Poissant, Joseph Rintoul, Jody Barclay, Robert M. R. Reimer, Jesika P. |
spellingShingle |
Clare, Elizabeth L. Symondson, William O. C. Broders, Hugh Fabianek, François Fraser, Erin E. MacKenzie, Alistair Boughen, Andrew Hamilton, Rachel Willis, Craig K. R. Martinez‐Nuñez, Felix Menzies, Allyson K. Norquay, Kaleigh J. O. Brigham, Mark Poissant, Joseph Rintoul, Jody Barclay, Robert M. R. Reimer, Jesika P. The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
author_facet |
Clare, Elizabeth L. Symondson, William O. C. Broders, Hugh Fabianek, François Fraser, Erin E. MacKenzie, Alistair Boughen, Andrew Hamilton, Rachel Willis, Craig K. R. Martinez‐Nuñez, Felix Menzies, Allyson K. Norquay, Kaleigh J. O. Brigham, Mark Poissant, Joseph Rintoul, Jody Barclay, Robert M. R. Reimer, Jesika P. |
author_sort |
Clare, Elizabeth L. |
title |
The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
title_short |
The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
title_full |
The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
title_fullStr |
The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
The diet of Myotis lucifugus across Canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
title_sort |
diet of myotis lucifugus across canada: assessing foraging quality and diet variability |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12542 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.12542 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.12542 |
geographic |
Northwest Territories Canada |
geographic_facet |
Northwest Territories Canada |
genre |
Northwest Territories |
genre_facet |
Northwest Territories |
op_source |
Molecular Ecology volume 23, issue 15, page 3618-3632 ISSN 0962-1083 1365-294X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/tdm_license_1.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12542 |
container_title |
Molecular Ecology |
container_volume |
23 |
container_issue |
15 |
container_start_page |
3618 |
op_container_end_page |
3632 |
_version_ |
1811642925066485760 |