 By Carolina Caceres,
thesis abstract.
M.Sc. Thesis, University of Calgary Summers in the interior wet-belt cedar-hemlock forests of British Columbia are characterized by cool temperatures and high rainfall. This region is home to five species of insectivorous Myotis bats of two foraging guilds, gleaners and strict aerial hawkers. I predicted that gleaners, given their ability to feed on non-flying insects, would have a diet unlike that of the aerial hawkers. I also predicted that gleaners would emerge later after sunset, forage later and forage in different habitats than strict aerial hawkers. I further predicted that the foraging advantages of gleaning in cooler environments allow for more gleaning females to reproduce. Contrary to these predictions, I found that there was no difference in diet or temporal foraging activity between gleaning and non-gleaning Myotis bats, although there was evidence of spatial partitioning. Over two summers, few Myotis were captured and only 11% of females were obviously reproductive. This does not appear to be sufficient to maintain the population without immigration. I conclude that the environmental conditions in this marginal habitat strongly influence the foraging behaviour and reproduction of the Myotis bats. Roost preferences of the long-eared species in the interior wet-belt were examined and found to be similar to those of other forest-dwelling bats. However, M. septentrionalis, the B.C. red-listed Northern Long-eared Bat, may be more selective in the types of roosts it uses, although the limited data did not allow for a definite conclusion to be made. The data do suggest that further research into roosting requirements of rarer species is merited. [Back to Research Highlights] |
