Roost Use and Fidelity of Asiatic Lesser Yellow Bat(Scotophilus kuhlii)
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Hu, Po-Chi
Abstract
Roosts can serve several functions for bats, including isolation from environmental change and disturbance, reducing predation pressure, and increasing interaction between individuals. Asiatic lesser yellow bats (Scotophilus kuhlii) use leaves of palm trees as roosts. Previous observation found that these bats may use roosts for long period of time, which is unusual for leave-dwelling bats. However, it is not clear whether the same individuals would use these roosts continuously. To understand roost use and fidelity of S. kuhlii, we conducted direct observation, mark-recapture and radio-tracking to examine the following questions: (1) Differences in the total time of roost use by S. kuhlii at different latitudinal sites; (2) Relationship between the total time of roost use and temperature; (3) Inter-annual site fidelity of S. kuhlii; and (4) Sex and age differences of roost fidelity in S. kuhlii. Results showed that the total time and the starting time when a roost was used by S. kuhlii were positively related to temperature, i.e. the higher the temperature, the longer and earlier a roost was used. Low recapture rate indicated that banded bats rarely reused the same roosts and roosting site inter-annually, but the roosts were reused by the species inter-annually. On average, the banded bats switched roosts in the same roosting site every 2-3 days. There is no significant difference in roost fidelity between males and females, but difference was significant between adults and juveniles. Although S. kuhlii switched roosts as frequently as other foliage-roosting bats, the condition of the roosts they use is stable and all roosts were occupied by bats. Therefore, I propose that S. kuhlii may switch roosts frequently and use roosts at a site as a big roost network to facilitate social interaction and form a fission-fusion social structure.
Subjects
Scotophilus kuhlii
roost
roost fidelity
mark-recapture
radio-tracking
fission-fusion
social structure
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