Meeting Abstract
Bats spend a significant portion of their lifetimes in roosts. The variety of roost types that different species use is associated with microclimatic conditions that bats experience, which might have an impact on their energy budgets. We collected data from the literature on metabolic rates at different ambient temperatures, colony size, and roost type for 52 species of bats. We hypothesized that metabolic rate (MR) would be dependent on roost microclimate. To test our hypothesis, we used colony size and roost type as our independent variables. We predicted that less exposed roosts and larger colony sizes were associated with lower energy expenditure. We used ANCOVA, with diet as a covariate, in our analyses. We found that bats living in more exposed roosts had a significantly higher MR than bats in more protected roosts. Larger colony sizes were associated with a reduction in MR at low ambient temperatures. We found a significant interaction between roost category and diet, and colony size and diet; thus, we ran analyses separately for frugivorous and insectivorous species, and found the same patterns as with the whole data set. Patterns of torpor differed according to roost type: species roosting in more exposed roost types entered torpor at higher ambient temperatures than those species living in protected roosts. Overall, we found evidence that roost microclimates might have a significant impact on the bats’ energy budgets. We expect that individuals would select those roosts with conditions that maximize fitness. We also expect that bats would compete for the best roosts, both at the intra- and interspecific levels. Knowledge on the influence of microhabitat on energy expenditure in bat species can be used to make efficient and impactful conservation policies and help identify particularly important roosts for bats.
