Insect abundance as a clock: timing of reproduction in bats of the Zhiguli Mountains

Vekhnik, V.A.; Vekhnik, V.P.; Lubvina, I.V.; Malyavina, M.S.

Авторы: Vekhnik V.A., Vekhnik V.P., Lubvina I.V., Malyavina M.S.
Журнал: European Journal of Wildlife Research
Том: 71
Номер: 146
Год издания: 2025
Издательство: Springer Verlag
Местоположение издательства: Germany
Первая страница: 10
Последняя страница: 1007
DOI: 10.1007/s10344-025-02020-4
Аннотация: In seasonal communities, periods of food abundance significantly impact the life cycles of mammals. During reproduction, bats face unique constraints from two fronts: species in temperate zones experience prolonged hibernation, reducingthe reproductive period, and their ability to fly limits them to having no more than two juveniles, imposing very high energetic costs during lactation to provision volant young. As a result, the timing of reproduction becomes crucial for thesurvival of both adults and juveniles. Using mist-net captures of 539 bats (267 males, 271 females) from seven resident and six migratory species representing six genera from Vespertilionidae family during summer, we sought to determine whether juveniles are born during optimal feeding conditions for the parents or whether births occur before the peak food supply, ensuring sufficient resources for independent posterity. For all bat species, pregnant and lactating females werecaptured in June, while in July mostly postlactating females and their young dominated, leading to a sharp increase in the total number of bats captured. In males, the reproductive period was more prolonged and showed no clear interspecific pattern. No differences were detected between resident and migratory species. Concurrent sampling of flying insects and bats demonstrated that weaning coincided with the peak abundance of insects, particularly Diptera, whose biomass and species richness reached maximal values in July. This synchrony—linking the seasonal increase in bat numbers to the peak of insect availability, driven by adult reproductive ecology and the strong dependence of juvenile survival on food supply—enables juveniles to gain body mass rapidly, as confirmed by comparisons of volant young over fixed intervals. This precise structure of the reproductive period in several bat species highlights the critical importance of juvenile survival over optimal reproductive conditions for adults in the life cycles of insectivorous bats.
Добавил в систему: Малявина Мария Сергеевна

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Insect abundance as a clock: timing of reproduction in bats of the Zhiguli Mountainsстатья Исследовательская статья