Department of Biology, Frostburg State University , Frostburg, MD , USA ; Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science , Frostburg, MD , USA.
Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science , Frostburg, MD , USA.
PeerJ. 2014 Oct 16;2:e629. doi: 10.7717/peerj.629. eCollection 2014.
Bats face numerous threats associated with global environmental change, including the rapid expansion of wind-energy facilities, emerging infectious disease, and habitat loss. An understanding of the movement and migration patterns of these highly dispersive animals would help reveal how spatially localized the impacts from these threats are likely to be on bat populations, thus aiding in their conservation. Stable hydrogen isotope ratios (δ (2)H) can be used to infer regions where bats have foraged during the summer molt season, thus allowing an assessment of summering location and distance of movement of bats sampled during other times of year. However, a major impediment to the application of δ (2)H for inference of bat movements is that the relationship between δ (2)H of bat hair and precipitation tends to be species specific and is still unknown for some key species of conservation concern. We addressed this issue by using geo-referenced museum specimens to calibrate the relationship between δ (2)H of hair (δ (2)Hhair) and long-term δ (2)H of growing-season precipitation (δ (2)HGSprecip) at the site of collection for eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis), one of the main species of bats experiencing large numbers of fatalities at wind-energy facilities in North America. Based on comparison of δ (2)Hhair and δ (2)HGSprecip values for males we estimated a period of molt of June 14-August 7. Within this period, male and female red bats exhibited a significant positive relationship between δ (2)Hhair and δ (2)HGSprecip. These results establish the relationship between δ (2)Hhair and δ (2)HGSprecip for red bats, which is necessary for the use of δ (2)Hhair to infer the movement and migration patterns of this important species. These results provide a critical resource to conservation biologists working to assess the impacts of environmental change on bat populations.
蝙蝠面临着与全球环境变化相关的许多威胁，包括风力发电设施的快速扩张、新出现的传染病以及栖息地丧失。了解这些高度分散的动物的运动和迁徙模式将有助于揭示这些威胁对蝙蝠种群的影响在空间上可能是局部的，从而有助于保护它们。稳定的氢同位素比值（δ (2)H）可用于推断蝙蝠在夏季换羽季节觅食的区域，从而可以评估蝙蝠在其他时间采样时的夏季栖息地位置和迁徙距离。然而，δ (2)H 用于推断蝙蝠运动的一个主要障碍是，毛发的 δ (2)H 与降水之间的关系往往因物种而异，对于一些关键的保护关注物种，这种关系仍然未知。我们通过使用地理参考的博物馆标本来解决这个问题，以校准东部红蝙蝠（Lasiurus borealis）毛发的 δ (2)H（δ (2)Hhair）与采集地长期生长季节降水的 δ (2)H（δ (2)HGSprecip）之间的关系，东部红蝙蝠是北美风力发电设施中大量死亡的主要蝙蝠物种之一。根据对雄性 δ (2)Hhair 和 δ (2)HGSprecip 值的比较，我们估计换羽期为 6 月 14 日至 8 月 7 日。在这个时期内，雄性和雌性红蝙蝠的 δ (2)Hhair 和 δ (2)HGSprecip 之间存在显著的正相关关系。这些结果确定了东部红蝙蝠毛发的 δ (2)H 与生长季节降水的 δ (2)H 之间的关系，这是使用 δ (2)Hhair 推断这种重要物种的运动和迁徙模式所必需的。这些结果为致力于评估环境变化对蝙蝠种群影响的保护生物学家提供了重要资源。
