Abstract

For elusive mammals like bats, colonization of new areas and colony formation are poorly understood, as is their relationship with the genetic structure of populations. Understanding dispersal and group formation behaviors is critical not only for a better comprehension of mammalian social dynamics, but also for guiding conservation efforts of rare and endangered species. Using nuclear and mitochondrial markers, we studied patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation among and within breeding colonies of giant noctule bats (Nyctalus lasiopterus), their relation to a new colony still in formation, and the impact of this ongoing process on the regionwide genetic makeup. Nuclear differentiation among colonies was relatively low and mostly nonsignificant. Mitochondrial variation followed this pattern, contrasting with findings for other temperate bat species. Our results suggest that this may indicate a recent population expansion. On average, female giant noctules were not more closely related to other colony members than to foreign individuals. This was also true for members of the newly forming colony and those of another, older group sampled shortly after its formation, suggesting that contrary to findings for other temperate bats, giant noctule colonies are not founded by relatives. However, mother–daughter pairs were found in the same populations more often than expected under random dispersal. Given this indication of philopatry, the lack of mitochondrial differentiation among most colonies in the region is probably due to the combination of a recent population expansion and group formation events.

Highlights

  • 48 Studying natural populations in their habitat can prove difficult using traditional 49methods such as mark recapture and radio-telemetry (Clutton-Brock & Lukas 2012)

  • The genetic structure of natural 56populations can result from a number of interacting factors, such as recent history, dispersal, 57mating system and group formation (Chesser 1991; Storz 1999; Parreira & Chikhi 2015). 58Dispersal ability in particular has been shown to be negatively correlated with genetic 59differentiation across a range of taxa, including temperate bats, where genetic population structure correlates negatively with 61the extent of migration (Burns & Broders 2014)

  • 71al. 2006), hyenas (Crocutta crocutta, Holekamp et al 1993) and yellow-bellied marmots 72(Marmota flaviventris, Armitage et al 1987), females choose to remain or move together with 73close kin. The latter has been documented for big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, in which 74average pairwise relatedness was higher than expected among individuals of three out of five 75matrilines following the formation of a new group (Metheney et al 2008)

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Summary

Authors Type URL Published Date

Dispersal and group formation dynamics in a rare and endangered temperate forest bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus, Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) Santos, JD, Meyer, CFJ, Ibáñez, C, Popa-Lisseanu, AG and Juste, J Article This version is available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/40159/ 2016. If the formation of the new colony in DNP was the result of 321random dispersal of females from different nearby colonies, following Slatkin’s migrant-pool 322model (Slatkin 1977), we would expect the lack of genetic structure we observed. We found that 347average pairwise relatedness within the colonizer groups was nearly twice that of established 348colonies (Table 6) and four mother-daughter pairs were identified within DR, indicating that 349colony formation in giant noctules does to some extent benefit from the coordinated move of 350related females. 652(π), number of polymorphic sites (S), observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity]

Svar h Hd π
DNP excluded
Findings
Within populations

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