Meeting Abstract
As global climate changes, animals must adjust the phenology of major life-cycle events to ensure that energetically costly activities coincide with peaks in resource abundance. It is assumed that an evolutionary response of phenological traits is required for natural populations to remain viable in response to climate change. We tested the hypothesis that hibernation phenology of little-brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) has evolutionary potential by quantifying the predictors and repeatability of hibernation phenological traits. Bats (n=6326) were outfitted with PIT-tags at five hibernacula in central Canada. PIT-tag dataloggers at the entrances of these hibernacula recorded the dates that bats immerged (i.e. entered) and emerged (i.e. departed) from hibernation. Immergence dates for males and females did not differ, and immergence date was not repeatable. Conversely, the emergence dates of females were 16 days earlier than emergence dates of males. For both sexes, emergence dates were significantly repeatable. For females, but not for males, individuals with larger masses emerged earlier from hibernation, presumably to facilitate earlier reproduction and offspring independence. In conclusion, our results place bat hibernation phenology into the context of life-history variation, whereas previously, bat hibernation was seen only as a energy saving mechanism.
