Partitioning of Evaporative Water Loss into Respiratory and Cutaneous Pathways in Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bats (<i>Epomophorus wahlbergi</i>)

Minnaar, Ingrid A.; Bennett, Nigel C.; Chimimba, Christian T.; McKechnie, Andrew E.

doi:10.1086/675342

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…We can also not exclude the possibility the T b s we recorded are indicative of a stress‐response (e.g., Muise, Menzies, & Willis, 2018). However, given the extended pre‐exposure acclamatory period, which is similar or longer than that of previous work (Cory Toussaint & McKechnie, 2012; Minnaar, Bennett, Chimimba, & McKechnie, 2014), and the standard deviation of post‐exposure T b was generally <3°C, we argue that if there is an effect of stress it is likely consistent among individuals. We recommend that future studies prolong cold exposure times and track changes in T b as bats enter torpor.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Body mass affects short‐term heterothermy in Neotropical bats

Czenze

Dunbar

2020

Biotropica

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Recent work in Australia and Africa has shown that heterothermy is widespread among phylogenetically diverse tropical and subtropical mammalian taxa. However, data on the use of heterothermy by Neotropical mammals are relatively scant, and those studies that exist focus on insect-eating bats. We investigated the capacity of fruit-eating Neotropical bats to use heterothermy when exposed to acute cold temperatures, and compared this to previous data focused on insect-eating bats sampled from the same region and time of year. We measured rectal temperatures prior to acute cold exposure (1 hr at an air temperature of 6, 7, or 10°C), and again after exposure. Our data show considerable variation in the thermoregulatory patterns of Neotropical bats, and generally, our results show that smaller bats cool quicker and to a greater extent than larger bats. Our results highlight the importance of energy conservation even in environments in which resources are relatively abundant.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Body mass affects short‐term heterothermy in Neotropical bats

Czenze

Dunbar

2020

Biotropica

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“…There are two possible explanations for this result. First, it may indicate that torpid bats do not use cutaneous pathways of gas exchange; however, this would be contrary to previous studies indicating that they do (Herreid and Schmidt-Nielsen, 1966;Makanya and Mortola, 2007;Minnaar et al, 2014;Muñoz-Garcia et al, 2012), including one study on big brown bats (Herreid et al, 1968). Perhaps big brown bats are unique in the relative contribution of passive gas exchange to whole body respiration.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…By limiting the pathway for passive gas exchange, Pd may cause an increase in pulmonary gas exchange (either active or passive; sensu Szewczak and Jackson, 1992) and elevate water loss to the environment. During hibernation, when O 2 requirements (and CO 2 production) are low, healthy bats may exchange gases passively through their thin, highly vascularized wing membranes (Herreid et al, 1968;Herreid and SchmidtNielsen, 1966;Minnaar et al, 2014); however, the proportion of O 2 obtained this way is debated. Cutaneous respiration should be advantageous over pulmonary respiration for conserving energy during winter hibernation, when resources are scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interruption to cutaneous gas exchange is not a likely mechanism of WNS-associated death in bats

Boyles

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Pseudogymnoascus destructans is the causative fungal agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), an emerging fungal-borne epizootic. WNS is responsible for a catastrophic decline of hibernating bats in North America, yet we have limited understanding of the physiological interactions between pathogen and host. Pseudogymnoascus destructans severely damages wings and tail membranes, by causing dryness that leads to whole sections crumbling off. Four possible mechanisms have been proposed by which infection could lead to dehydration; in this study, we tested one: P. destructans infection could cause disruption to passive gasexchange pathways across the wing membranes, thereby causing a compensatory increase in water-intensive pulmonary respiration. We hypothesized that total evaporative water loss would be greater when passive gas exchange was inhibited. We found that bats did not lose more water when passive pathways were blocked. This study provides evidence against the proposed proximal mechanism that disruption to passive gas exchange causes dehydration and death to WNS-infected bats.

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“…Bats also have relatively high field metabolic rates associated with flying, which increase their RWL [16] and they have vascularized membranous wings that increase surface area significantly, thus potentially increasing CEWL [15]. In support of this idea, CEWL was found to contribute over 50% of the TEWL in Kuhl's pipistrelle, Pipistrellus kuhlii, and Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat, Epomophorus wahlbergi at moderate ambient temperatures (T a ), reaching 80% at T a s below 208C, when bats were torpid [17,18]. If CEWL is indeed the main avenue of water loss in bats in general, it is reasonable to assume that desert bats are subject to selection pressures to modify the resistance of the skin to diffusion of water vapour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The cutaneous lipid composition of bat wing and tail membranes: a case of convergent evolution with birds

et al. 2016

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ResearchCite this article: Ben-Hamo M, Muñoz-Garcia A, Larrain P, Pinshow B, Korine C, Williams JB. 2016 The cutaneous lipid composition of bat wing and tail membranes: a case of convergent evolution with birds. The water vapour permeability barrier of mammals and birds resides in the stratum corneum (SC), the outermost layer of the epidermis. The molar ratio and molecular arrangement of lipid classes in the SC determine the integrity of this barrier. Increased chain length and polarity of ceramides, the most abundant lipid class in mammalian SC, contribute to tighter packing and thus to reduced cutaneous evaporative water loss (CEWL). However, tighter lipid packing also causes low SC hydration, making it brittle, whereas high hydration softens the skin at the cost of increasing CEWL. Cerebrosides are not present in the mammalian SC; their pathological accumulation occurs in Gaucher's disease, which leads to a dramatic increase in CEWL. However, cerebrosides occur normally in the SC of birds. We tested the hypothesis that cerebrosides are also present in the SC of bats, because they are probably necessary to confer pliability to the skin, a quality needed for flight. We examined the SC lipid composition of four sympatric bat species and found that, as in birds, their SC has substantial cerebroside contents, not associated with a pathological state, indicating convergent evolution between bats and birds.

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Partitioning of Evaporative Water Loss into Respiratory and Cutaneous Pathways in Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bats (Epomophorus wahlbergi)

Cited by 22 publications

References 38 publications

Body mass affects short‐term heterothermy in Neotropical bats

Body mass affects short‐term heterothermy in Neotropical bats

Interruption to cutaneous gas exchange is not a likely mechanism of WNS-associated death in bats

The cutaneous lipid composition of bat wing and tail membranes: a case of convergent evolution with birds

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