Flying foxes and drifting continents

Westcott, David A.; McKeown, Adam

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139565424.010

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The management of species moving into new geopolitical areas will likely depend on their ecological and socio-economic values (Scheffers and Pecl 2019). Fruit bats can contribute to pollination (a key ecosystem service) in Tasmania and as nocturnal mammal species, they are unlikely to compete with diurnal nectarivorous and frugivorous birds, although they could reduce resource availability (Westcott and McKeown 2014). However, bats are known carriers of diseases, e.g., Hendra virus (Martin et al 2018), and as such have been persecuted (Hughes et al 2007;MacFarlane and Rocha 2020) and are a frequent subject of humanwildlife conflicts (Roberts et al 2012;Tait et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fruit bats could respond to climate change and extreme-weather events by shifting their distribution to more suitable areas, because they are highly agile and often travel large distances in search of resources (Roberts et al 2012;Tidemann and Nelson 2004), with a track record of being able to colonise previously uninhabited areas (Boardman et al 2020;Parris and Hazell 2005;Westcott and McKeown 2014). In this regard, it is also worth considering whether Tasmania, the southernmost island state of Australia, which historically lacks fruit bats, might be suitable under future climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predicted the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on the future distribution of fruit bats in Australia

Diengdoh

Ondei

Hunt

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Aim: Fruit bats (Megachiroptera) are important pollinators and seed dispersers whose distribution might be affected by climate change and extreme-weather events. We assessed the potential impacts of those changes, particularly more frequent and intense heatwaves, and drought, on the future distribution of fruit bats in Australia. We also focus a case study on Tasmania, the southernmost island state of Australia, which is currently devoid of fruit bats but might serve as a future climate refugium. Location: Australia (continental scale study) and Tasmania. Methods: Species distribution modelling was used to predict the occurrence of seven species of fruit bats, using an ensemble of machine learning algorithms. Predictors included extreme-weather events (heatwave and drought), vegetation (as a proxy for habitat) and bioclimatic variables. Predictions were made for the current day distribution and future (2050 and 2070) scenarios using multiple emission scenarios and global circulation models. Results: Changes in climate and extreme weather events are forecasted to impact all fruit-bat species, with the loss and gain of suitable areas being predominantly along the periphery of a species current distribution. A higher emission scenario resulted in a higher loss of areas for Grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) and Spectacled flying fox (P. conspicillatus) but a higher gain of areas for the Northern blossom bat (Macroglossus minimus). The Grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is the only study species predicted to potentially occur in Tasmania under future scenarios. Main conclusions: Fruit bats are likely to respond to climate change and extreme weather by migrating to more suitable areas, including regions not historically inhabited by those species such as Tasmania possibly leading to human-wildlife conflicts. Conservation strategies (e.g., habitat protection) should focus on areas we found to remain suitable under future scenarios, and not be limited by state-political boundaries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicted the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on the future distribution of fruit bats in Australia

Diengdoh

Ondei

Hunt

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many Pteropodidae and the fast-flying Molossidae can cover long distances nightly and seasonally (McCracken et al, 2018;Norberg & Rayner, 1987;Vaughan, 1966;Westcott & McKeown, 2014), thus should generally show the highest vagilities. The slower-flying Mormoopidae and Vespertilionidae are mainly edge-space bats (Denzinger & Schnitzler, 2013;Norberg & Rayner, 1987), thus should generally show intermediate vagilities.…”

Section: Divergence Between Conspecific Populations and Metapopulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global assessment of the ‘island rule’ in bats based on functionally distinct measures of body size

Molinari

2023

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim The ‘island rule’ postulates that on islands large continental animals become smaller, and small continental animals become larger. Its generality has been supported by some studies but contested by others. Bats are cosmopolitan and speciose mammals thus are ideal to test ecogeographic patterns. Based on three functionally distinct measures of body size, I compare mainland and island variation in bats at the order to subspecies level. Location Globally. Taxon Chiroptera. Methods I compiled information from literature on the skull length, forearm length, and body mass of 251 bat species in 840 locations. For conspecific bats from different locations, I calculated size divergences, and categorized them as within‐mainland (M–M), mainland‐to‐island (M–I), or island‐to‐island (I–I). I used a modified size ratio to quantify divergences, analysis of variance, non‐parametric tests, and effect sizes to complement statistical significances. Results On islands, cranial size increases, wing length becomes more uniform, and body mass decreases more often than not. The first trend would support the island rule, but had a small effect size. Families differ considerably in how they vary geographically. Species are ranked very differently based on functionally distinct size measures. Divergences are uniform across M–M, M–I, and I–I ranges, and large between bats of different subspecies. Main Conclusions Likely owing to limitations imposed by flight and echolocation, bats do not follow the island rule. The absence of correlation between how bats are ranked based on them indicates that functionally distinct size measures are not necessarily coadaptive. High vagilities may lead to low local differentiation, but interfamilial variation shows this differentiation to also depend on other factors. Body sizes converge to species‐specific optima, not to supraspecific optima as predicted by theoretical studies. Size differences are reflected in taxonomy more often if observed across M–I ranges.

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Extreme mobility of the world’s largest flying mammals creates key challenges for management and conservation

et al. 2020

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Background: Effective conservation management of highly mobile species depends upon detailed knowledge of movements of individuals across their range; yet, data are rarely available at appropriate spatiotemporal scales. Flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.) are large bats that forage by night on floral resources and rest by day in arboreal roosts that may contain colonies of many thousands of individuals. They are the largest mammals capable of powered flight, and are highly mobile, which makes them key seed and pollen dispersers in forest ecosystems. However, their mobility also facilitates transmission of zoonotic diseases and brings them in conflict with humans, and so they require a precarious balancing of conservation and management concerns throughout their Old World range. Here, we analyze the Australia-wide movements of 201 satellite-tracked individuals, providing unprecedented detail on the inter-roost movements of three flying-fox species: Pteropus alecto, P. poliocephalus, and P. scapulatus across jurisdictions over up to 5 years. Results: Individuals were estimated to travel long distances annually among a network of 755 roosts (P. alecto, 1427-1887 km; P. poliocephalus, 2268-2564 km; and P. scapulatus, 3782-6073 km), but with little uniformity among their directions of travel. This indicates that flying-fox populations are composed of extremely mobile individuals that move nomadically and at species-specific rates. Individuals of all three species exhibited very low fidelity to roosts locally, resulting in very high estimated daily colony turnover rates (P. alecto, 11.9 ± 1.3%; P. poliocephalus, 17.5 ± 1.3%; and P. scapulatus, 36.4 ± 6.5%). This indicates that flying-fox roosts form nodes in a vast continental network of highly dynamic "staging posts" through which extremely mobile individuals travel far and wide across their species ranges.

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Flying foxes and drifting continents

Cited by 3 publications

References 78 publications

Predicted the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on the future distribution of fruit bats in Australia

Predicted the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on the future distribution of fruit bats in Australia

A global assessment of the ‘island rule’ in bats based on functionally distinct measures of body size

Extreme mobility of the world’s largest flying mammals creates key challenges for management and conservation

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