Abstract
BackgroundBats are among the most successful desert mammals. Yet, our understanding of their spatio-temporal dynamics in habitat use associated with the seasonal oscillation of resources is still limited. In this study, we have employed state-of-the-art lightweight GPS loggers to track the yellow-winged bat Lavia frons in a desert in northern Kenya to investigate how seasonality in a desert affects the a) spatial and b) temporal dimensions of movements in a low-mobility bat.MethodsBats were tracked during April–May 2017 (rainy season) and January–February 2018 (dry season) using 1-g GPS loggers. Spatial and temporal dimensions of movements were quantified, respectively, as the home range and nightly activity patterns. We tested for differences between seasons to assess responses to seasonal drought. In addition, we quantified home range overlap between neighbouring individuals to investigate whether tracking data will be in accordance with previous reports on territoriality and social monogamy in L. frons.ResultsWe obtained data for 22 bats, 13 during the rainy and 9 during the dry season. Home ranges averaged 5.46 ± 11.04 ha and bats travelled a minimum distance of 99.69 ± 123.42 m/hour. During the dry season, home ranges were larger than in the rainy season, and bats exhibited high activity during most of the night. No apparent association with free water was identified during the dry season. The observed spatial organisation of home ranges supports previous observations that L. frons partitions the space into territories throughout the year.ConclusionsOur results suggest that, in low-mobility bats, a potential way to cope with seasonally harsh conditions and resource scarcity in deserts is to cover larger areas and increase time active, suggesting lower cost-efficiency of the foraging activity. Climate change may pose additional pressures on L. frons and other low-mobility species by further reducing food abundances.
Highlights
Bats are among the most successful desert mammals
Influence of seasonality on the spatial and temporal dimensions of movement Our results suggest changes in movement patterns both at the spatial and temporal dimensions, which are in line with our prediction that L. frons need to cover larger areas and be active for longer during the dry season to ensure enough resources are located
Despite the challenges linked to our methodology, e.g. relatively low number of fixes/individuals and different individuals tracked in the two seasons, the data reveal the presence of weak effects providing fundamental insights into the ecology of L. frons
Summary
Bats are among the most successful desert mammals. Yet, our understanding of their spatio-temporal dynamics in habitat use associated with the seasonal oscillation of resources is still limited. Seasonality, i.e. periodical fluctuations in environmental factors, is known to affect animal movements in a variety of ways by changing the abundance of resources in space and time [1, 3]. Current climate change projections estimate that deserts will face an increase in the frequency and duration of extreme droughts and reductions in water availability [9, 10], likely moving environmental conditions closer to the critical biological limits of desert animals [11]. Attention directed to desert species in general is still low [11, 12], interest towards desert-dwelling bats has recently increased following concerns regarding their long-term persistence under climate change [13,
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