Information transfer about roosts in female Bechstein's bats: an experimental field study.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_DFC65C9F3C4E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Information transfer about roosts in female Bechstein's bats: an experimental field study.
Journal
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Author(s)
Kerth G., Reckardt K.
ISSN
0962-8452
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2003
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
270
Number
1514
Pages
511-515
Language
english
Abstract
Information transfer among group members is believed to play an important part in the evolution of coloniality in both birds and bats. Although information transfer has received much scientific interest, field studies using experiments to test the underlying hypotheses are rare. We used a field experiment to test if communally breeding female Bechstein's bats (Myotis bechsteinii) exchange information regarding novel roosts. We supplied a wild colony, comprising 17 adult females of known relatedness, with pairs of suitable and unsuitable roosts and monitored the arrival of individuals marked with transponders (PIT-tags) over 2 years. As expected with information transfer, significantly more naive females were recruited towards suitable than towards unsuitable roosts. We conclude that information transfer about roosts has two functions: (i) it generates communal knowledge of a large set of roosts; and (ii) it aids avoidance of colony fission during roost switching. Both functions seem important in Bechstein's bats, in which colonies depend on many day roosts and where colony members live together for many years.
Keywords
Animal Communication, Animal Migration, Animals, Chiroptera/physiology, Female, Nesting Behavior, Social Behavior, Time Factors
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
19/11/2007 11:51
Last modification date
20/08/2019 17:04
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