Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing

Recently, several species of aerial-hawking bats have been found to prey on migrating songbirds, but details on this behaviour and its relevance for bird migration are still unclear. We sequenced avian DNA in feather-containing scats of the bird-feeding bat Nyctalus lasiopterus from Spain collected...

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Autores: Ibáñez, Carlos, Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G., Pastor-Beviá, David, García-Mudarra, Juan L., Juste, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/146904
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/146904
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bird migration
Nyctalus lasiopterus
Noctules
Molecular diet
Trophic: Chiroptera
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spelling Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencingIbáñez, CarlosPopa-Lisseanu, Ana G.Pastor-Beviá, DavidGarcía-Mudarra, Juan L.Juste, JavierBird migrationNyctalus lasiopterusNoctulesMolecular dietTrophic: ChiropteraRecently, several species of aerial-hawking bats have been found to prey on migrating songbirds, but details on this behaviour and its relevance for bird migration are still unclear. We sequenced avian DNA in feather-containing scats of the bird-feeding bat Nyctalus lasiopterus from Spain collected during bird migration seasons. We found very high prey diversity, with 31 bird species from eight families of Passeriformes, almost all of which were nocturnally flying sub-Saharan migrants. Moreover, species using tree hollows or nest boxes in the study area during migration periods were not present in the bats’ diet, indicating that birds are solely captured on the wing during night-time passage. Additional to a generalist feeding strategy, we found that bats selected medium-sized bird species, thereby assumingly optimizing their energetic cost-benefit balance and injury risk. Surprisingly, bats preyed upon birds half their own body mass. This shows that the 5% prey to predator body mass ratio traditionally assumed for aerial hunting bats does not apply to this hunting strategy or even underestimates these animals’ behavioural and mechanical abilities. Considering the bats’ generalist feeding strategy and their large prey size range, we suggest that nocturnal bat predation may have influenced the evolution of bird migration strategies and behaviour.Peer reviewedPeer ReviewedBlackwell PublishingConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2017201720162017info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Postprintinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/146904reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)InglésIbáñez, Carlos; Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G.; Pastor-Beviá, David; García-Mudarra, Juan L. (2016): Data from: Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing [Dataset]; Dryad; Version 1; https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.00vg4Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/1469042026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
title Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
spellingShingle Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
Ibáñez, Carlos
Bird migration
Nyctalus lasiopterus
Noctules
Molecular diet
Trophic: Chiroptera
title_short Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
title_full Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
title_fullStr Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
title_full_unstemmed Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
title_sort Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ibáñez, Carlos
Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G.
Pastor-Beviá, David
García-Mudarra, Juan L.
Juste, Javier
author Ibáñez, Carlos
author_facet Ibáñez, Carlos
Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G.
Pastor-Beviá, David
García-Mudarra, Juan L.
Juste, Javier
author_role author
author2 Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G.
Pastor-Beviá, David
García-Mudarra, Juan L.
Juste, Javier
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bird migration
Nyctalus lasiopterus
Noctules
Molecular diet
Trophic: Chiroptera
topic Bird migration
Nyctalus lasiopterus
Noctules
Molecular diet
Trophic: Chiroptera
description Recently, several species of aerial-hawking bats have been found to prey on migrating songbirds, but details on this behaviour and its relevance for bird migration are still unclear. We sequenced avian DNA in feather-containing scats of the bird-feeding bat Nyctalus lasiopterus from Spain collected during bird migration seasons. We found very high prey diversity, with 31 bird species from eight families of Passeriformes, almost all of which were nocturnally flying sub-Saharan migrants. Moreover, species using tree hollows or nest boxes in the study area during migration periods were not present in the bats’ diet, indicating that birds are solely captured on the wing during night-time passage. Additional to a generalist feeding strategy, we found that bats selected medium-sized bird species, thereby assumingly optimizing their energetic cost-benefit balance and injury risk. Surprisingly, bats preyed upon birds half their own body mass. This shows that the 5% prey to predator body mass ratio traditionally assumed for aerial hunting bats does not apply to this hunting strategy or even underestimates these animals’ behavioural and mechanical abilities. Considering the bats’ generalist feeding strategy and their large prey size range, we suggest that nocturnal bat predation may have influenced the evolution of bird migration strategies and behaviour.
publishDate 2016
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2016
2017
2017
2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Postprint
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/146904
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/146904
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Ibáñez, Carlos; Popa-Lisseanu, Ana G.; Pastor-Beviá, David; García-Mudarra, Juan L. (2016): Data from: Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing [Dataset]; Dryad; Version 1; https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.00vg4
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Blackwell Publishing
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Blackwell Publishing
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.81155

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