Heterogenous effects of bat declines from white‐nose syndrome on arthropods

In North America, white‐nose syndrome (WNS) has caused precipitous declines in hibernating bat populations, raising the question of whether the rapid loss of arthropodivorous bats may affect the abundance of their prey. During the summers of 2015–2018 (1 year after the arrival of WNS in Wisconsin, U...

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Veröffentlicht in:Ecology letters Jg. 27; H. 6
Hauptverfasser: Wray, Amy K., Peery, Marcus Z., Kochanski, Jade M., Pelton, Emma, Lindner, Daniel L., Gratton, Claudio
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Paris Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2024
Schlagworte:
Acoustic tracking
acoustics
Animal diseases
Arthropods
ecology
Eptesicus fuscus
food webs
Myotis lucifugus
Nose
predator–prey
Prey
top‐down control
ultrasonics
White-nose syndrome
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
ISSN:1461-023X, 1461-0248
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Zusammenfassung:In North America, white‐nose syndrome (WNS) has caused precipitous declines in hibernating bat populations, raising the question of whether the rapid loss of arthropodivorous bats may affect the abundance of their prey. During the summers of 2015–2018 (1 year after the arrival of WNS in Wisconsin, USA), we performed intensive arthropod black‐light trapping, ultrasonic acoustic monitoring, and emergence counts at 10 little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bat maternity roosts with paired control sites. For little brown bats, which are severely affected by WNS, roost counts declined by 95% over the four‐year period, compared to a 38% decline in big brown bat roost counts. Total arthropod abundance decreased by 49%, although decreases among common little brown bat prey were less severe. Our natural predator exclusion experiment supports existing evidence that bats can have measurable trophic impacts on arthropod communities, primarily via top‐down effects on common prey. In North America, white‐nose syndrome (WNS) has caused precipitous declines in hibernating bat populations, raising the question of whether the rapid loss of arthropodivorous bats may affect the abundance of their prey. During the summers of 2015–2018 (1 year after the arrival of WNS in Wisconsin, USA), we performed intensive arthropod black‐light trapping, ultrasonic acoustic monitoring, and emergence counts at 10 little brown (Myotis lucifugus) and big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bat maternity roosts with paired control sites. For little brown bats, which are severely affected by WNS, roost counts declined by 95% over the four‐year period, compared to a 38% decline in big brown bat roost counts. Total arthropod abundance decreased by 49%, although decreases among common little brown bat prey were less severe. Our natural predator exclusion experiment supports existing evidence that bats can have measurable trophic impacts on arthropod communities, primarily via top‐down effects on common prey.
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ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.14437