Meeting Abstract

P1.102  Friday, Jan. 4  Feeding, foraging, and energetics of small bats at high latitudes JOOSTE, E.*; BOYLES, J.G.; HALLAM, T.G.; MCCRACKEN, G.F.; Southern Illinois Univ.; Southern Illinois Univ.; Univ. of Tennessee; Univ. of Tennessee ejooste@siu.edu

Small insectivorous bats that spend summers at very high latitudes experience a suite of bioenergetic constraints including cool nighttime temperatures, long daylight periods which limit foraging, and a short summer. Thus, they are likely to display feeding and foraging patterns unlike those of congeners and conspecifics at lower latitudes. We evaluated the feeding patterns of small myotine bats roosting in buildings in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska (~62-63°N) during summer and autumn 2012. During the summer sampling period (June and July), there was no true darkness and twilight lasted for approximately 2-3 hrs. We captured bats exiting buildings and held them to collect feces. Diet was later determined through standard analytical techniques. We also collected free-flying insects, including mosquitoes, to analyze energetic content of the prey available to bats. We used ultrasonic detectors during the entire period from June to October to estimate the foraging periods and activity as the amount of daylight drastically changed. Finally, we used the energetic estimates of the sampled insects and previously published data to estimate energy budgets assuming the diet sampled in the feces.