Foraging behaviour of the black flying-fox (Pteropus alecto) in the urban landscape of Brisbane, Queensland

Abstract

The foraging movements of 13 Pteropus alecto from four camps in suburban Brisbane were monitored over two summer and one winter season between 1998 and 2000. By means of radio-telemetry, the flying-foxes were tracked to their foraging sites over 49 nights for a total of 237 h. Data from flying-foxes tracked from dusk to dawn showed that bats travelled directly to a foraging site early in the night and undertook smaller movements between foraging sites for the remainder of the night. Bats undertook a greater number of nocturnal movements during a food resource shortage than during a season of greater resource abundance. Mean distances (±s.e.) travelled from camps to foraging sites varied between camps and ranged from 2.9 ± 0.3 km (n = 24) to 7.6 ± 0.07 km (n = 2). In all three seasons, flying-foxes foraged on a variety of native and exotic plant species. Dominant exotics included Cocos palms (Sygarus romanzoffiana), Chinese elm trees (Celtis sinensis) and Cadaghi (Corymbia torrelliana), while highly utilised native food plants included figs (Ficus spp.), grevilleas (Grevillea spp.) and bottlebrushes (Callistemon spp.).

Urban habituation, ecological connectivity and epidemic dampening: the emergence of Hendra virus from flying foxes (Pteropusspp.)

“…nutritional stress or pregnancy; [21]), the risk of spill-over from intense but infrequent epidemics may be enhanced. Although the fact that 10 out of 14 HeV outbreak sites were near continuously occupied flying fox camps, which we assume contain non-migratory animals ( [16,36,61] [62,63]), and the sporadic nature of HeV outbreaks could be explained by wave-like spatiotemporal behaviour. Our models show that epidemic waves of HeV, sparked by urban epidemics and travelling progressively through non-urban populations, are a possible consequence of changing flying fox spatial population structure.…”

“…Data show that flying fox populations have either declined, shifted into urbanized environments, or both [ 16,22,30,34,59], since early surveys by Ratcliffe [49,50] and Nelson [48]. Historically, more numerous and more connected flying fox populations probably favoured smouldering, low-incidence epidemic dynamics in nearly contiguous east coast forest, and an overall larger number of infected individuals.…”

“…Our study used data and modelling approaches to evaluate a set of probable contributory mechanisms underlying HeV emergence in urban and peri-urban locations in eastern Australia. Likely mechanisms consistent with the data that include: (i) An increase in urban flying fox populations allows for increased contact with humans and horses; (ii) a decrease in migratory behaviour of urban flying foxes reduces viral transmission, leading to a decline in herd immunity, and a consequent increase in the intensity of HeV outbreaks when infection is reintroduced; and (iii) synchrony of stressors on individual bats and some demographic factors, including seasonal The approximate peak timing of life-history events for P. alecto and P. poliocephalus in South Queensland [15][16][17][18] is indicated at the top of the plot.…”

How Does Africa's Most Hunted Bat Vary Across the Continent? Population Traits of the Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum) and Its Interactions with Humans

“…in Australia (Plowright et al, 2011). However, the 'ample food supply' available to resident bats is nutritionally inferior to natural food sources (Eby et al, 1999;Markus and Hall, 2004) and is hypothesized to result in immunosuppression and a subsequent increased risk of Hendra virus transmission to horses (Plowright et al, 2015). Monitoring of the annual migrations of E. helvum roosts, or lack thereof, may therefore prove useful in the future for responding to any viral pathogens that might emerge in Africa.…”

Physiological biomarkers of Hendra virus infection in Australian Flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.)

“…A more acidic urinary pH is usually indicative of a higher dietary acid load (typically higher protein content), while more alkaline pH is indicative of a higher carbohydrate diet (McIntosh, 2012). However, the differing urine pH profiles between males and females is most plausibly due to the differing physiological status between the sexes, in particular lactation in females, rather than differing diets, as there is no evidence supporting differing foraging behaviours between the sexes of P. alecto (Palmer and Woinarski, 1999;Markus and Hall, 2004). …”