Jackson Reilly T, Willcox Emma V, Zobel John M, Bernard Riley F
Department of Biological Sciences University of Arkansas Fayetteville Arkansas USA.
Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA.
Ecol Evol. 2022 Jul 13;12(7):e9113. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9113. eCollection 2022 Jul.
Prior to the introduction of white-nose syndrome (WNS) to North America, temperate bats were thought to remain within hibernacula throughout most of the winter. However, recent research has shown that bats in the southeastern United States emerge regularly from hibernation and are active on the landscape, regardless of their WNS status. The relationship between winter activity and susceptibility to WNS has yet to be explored but warrants attention, as it may enable managers to implement targeted management for WNS-affected species. We investigated this relationship by implanting 1346 passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in four species that vary in their susceptibility to WNS. Based on PIT-tag detections, three species entered hibernation from late October to early November. Bats were active at hibernacula entrances on days when midpoint temperatures ranged from -1.94 to 22.78°C (mean midpoint temperature = 8.70 ± 0.33°C). Eastern small-footed bats (), a species with low susceptibility to WNS, were active throughout winter, with a significant decrease in activity in mid-hibernation (December 16 to February 15). Tricolored bats (), a species that is highly susceptible to WNS, exhibited an increase in activity beginning in mid-hibernation and extending through late hibernation (February 16 to March 31). Indiana bats (), a species determined to have a medium-high susceptibility to WNS, remained on the landscape into early hibernation (November 1 to December 15), after which we did not record any again until the latter portion of mid-hibernation. Finally, gray bats (), another species with low susceptibility to WNS, maintained low but regular levels of activity throughout winter. Given these results, we determined that emergence activity from hibernacula during winter is highly variable among bat species and our data will assist wildlife managers to make informed decisions regarding the timing of implementation of species-specific conservation actions.
在白鼻综合征（WNS）传入北美之前，温带地区的蝙蝠被认为在整个冬季的大部分时间里都待在冬眠洞穴中。然而，最近的研究表明，美国东南部的蝙蝠会定期从冬眠中苏醒并在野外活动，无论它们是否感染WNS。冬季活动与感染WNS易感性之间的关系尚未得到探讨，但值得关注，因为这可能使管理人员能够对受WNS影响的物种实施有针对性的管理。我们通过在四种对WNS易感性不同的物种中植入1346个被动集成应答器（PIT）标签来研究这种关系。根据PIT标签检测结果，三种物种在10月下旬至11月初进入冬眠。当平均气温在-1.94至22.78°C之间（平均气温=8.70±0.33°C）时，蝙蝠在冬眠洞穴入口处活动。东部小脚蝠（），一种对WNS易感性较低的物种，整个冬季都很活跃，在冬眠中期（12月16日至2月15日）活动显著减少。三色蝙蝠（），一种对WNS高度易感的物种，从冬眠中期开始活动增加，并持续到冬眠后期（2月16日至3月31日）。印第安纳蝙蝠（），一种被确定为对WNS具有中等高度易感性的物种，在进入冬眠初期（11月1日至12月15日）仍在野外活动，在此之后，直到冬眠中期后期我们才再次记录到它们的活动。最后，灰蝙蝠（），另一种对WNS易感性较低的物种，整个冬季保持低水平但规律的活动。鉴于这些结果，我们确定冬季从冬眠洞穴中苏醒的活动在蝙蝠物种间差异很大，我们的数据将有助于野生动物管理人员在实施特定物种保护行动的时间安排上做出明智决策。
