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Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats

Intraspecific competition in large aggregations of animals should generate density-dependent effects on foraging patterns. To test how large differences in colony size affect foraging movements, we tracked seasonal movements of the African straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from four colonies...

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Autores principales: Calderón-Capote, María C., Dechmann, Dina K. N., Fahr, Jakob, Wikelski, Martin, Kays, Roland, O'Mara, M. Teague
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277244/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32537224
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200274
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author Calderón-Capote, María C.
Dechmann, Dina K. N.
Fahr, Jakob
Wikelski, Martin
Kays, Roland
O'Mara, M. Teague
author_facet Calderón-Capote, María C.
Dechmann, Dina K. N.
Fahr, Jakob
Wikelski, Martin
Kays, Roland
O'Mara, M. Teague
author_sort Calderón-Capote, María C.
collection PubMed
description Intraspecific competition in large aggregations of animals should generate density-dependent effects on foraging patterns. To test how large differences in colony size affect foraging movements, we tracked seasonal movements of the African straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from four colonies that range from 4000 up to 10 million animals. Contrary to initial predictions, we found that mean distance flown per night (9–99 km), number of nightly foraging sites (2–3) and foraging and commuting times were largely independent of colony size. Bats showed classic central-place foraging and typically returned to the same day roost each night. However, roost switching was evident among individuals in three of the four colonies especially towards the onset of migration. The relatively consistent foraging patterns across seasons and colonies indicate that these bats seek out roosts close to highly productive landscapes. Once foraging effort starts to increase due to local resource depletion they migrate to landscapes with seasonally increasing resources. This minimizes high intraspecific competition and may help to explain why long-distance migration, otherwise rare in bats, evolved in this highly gregarious species.
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spelling pubmed-72772442020-06-11 Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats Calderón-Capote, María C. Dechmann, Dina K. N. Fahr, Jakob Wikelski, Martin Kays, Roland O'Mara, M. Teague R Soc Open Sci Ecology, Conservation, and Global Change Biology Intraspecific competition in large aggregations of animals should generate density-dependent effects on foraging patterns. To test how large differences in colony size affect foraging movements, we tracked seasonal movements of the African straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from four colonies that range from 4000 up to 10 million animals. Contrary to initial predictions, we found that mean distance flown per night (9–99 km), number of nightly foraging sites (2–3) and foraging and commuting times were largely independent of colony size. Bats showed classic central-place foraging and typically returned to the same day roost each night. However, roost switching was evident among individuals in three of the four colonies especially towards the onset of migration. The relatively consistent foraging patterns across seasons and colonies indicate that these bats seek out roosts close to highly productive landscapes. Once foraging effort starts to increase due to local resource depletion they migrate to landscapes with seasonally increasing resources. This minimizes high intraspecific competition and may help to explain why long-distance migration, otherwise rare in bats, evolved in this highly gregarious species. The Royal Society 2020-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC7277244/ /pubmed/32537224 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200274 Text en © 2020 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology, Conservation, and Global Change Biology
Calderón-Capote, María C.
Dechmann, Dina K. N.
Fahr, Jakob
Wikelski, Martin
Kays, Roland
O'Mara, M. Teague
Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title_full Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title_fullStr Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title_full_unstemmed Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title_short Foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
title_sort foraging movements are density-independent among straw-coloured fruit bats
topic Ecology, Conservation, and Global Change Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7277244/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32537224
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200274
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