Going, going, gone: the impact of white-nose syndrome on the summer activity of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).

Since its discovery in the winter of 2005-2006, white-nose syndrome (WNS) has killed over one million little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) in the American northeast. Although many studies have reported die-offs of bats at winter hibernacula, it is important to understand how bat mortality linked to WNS at winter hibernacula affects bat activity levels in their summer ranges. In the summer (May-August) of 2007, 2008 and 2009, we recorded echolocation calls to determine bat activity at sites along the Hudson River, NY (within approx. 100 km of where WNS was first reported). We documented a 78 per cent decline in the summer activity of M. lucifugus, coinciding with the arrival and spread of WNS. We suggest that mortality of M. lucifugus in winter hibernacula is reflected by reduced levels of activity in the summer and that WNS affects the entire bat population of an area, and not only individual hibernacula.

Drinking and flying: does alcohol consumption affect the flight and echolocation performance of phyllostomid bats?

BACKGROUND: In the wild, frugivorous and nectarivorous bats often eat fermenting fruits and nectar, and thus may consume levels of ethanol that could induce inebriation. To understand if consumption of ethanol by bats alters their access to food and general survival requires examination of behavioural responses to its ingestion, as well as assessment of interspecific variation in those responses. We predicted that bats fed ethanol would show impaired flight and echolocation behaviour compared to bats fed control sugar water, and that there would be behavioural differences among species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We fed wild caught Artibeus jamaicensis, A. lituratus, A. phaeotis, Carollia sowelli, Glossophaga soricina, and Sturnira lilium (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) sugar water (44 g of table sugar in 500 ml of water) or sugar water with ethanol before challenging them to fly through an obstacle course while we simultaneously recorded their echolocation calls. We used bat saliva, a non-invasive proxy, to measure blood ethanol concentrations ranging from 0 to >0.3% immediately before flight trials. Flight performance and echolocation behaviour were not significantly affected by consumption of ethanol, but species differed in their blood alcohol concentrations after consuming it. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The bats we studied display a tolerance for ethanol that could have ramifications for the adaptive radiation of frugivorous and nectarivorous bats by allowing them to use ephemeral food resources over a wide span of time. By sampling across phyllostomid genera, we show that patterns of apparent ethanol tolerance in New World bats are broad, and thus may have been an important early step in the evolution of frugivory and nectarivory in these animals.

A bony connection signals laryngeal echolocation in bats.

Echolocation is an active form of orientation in which animals emit sounds and then listen to reflected echoes of those sounds to form images of their surroundings in their brains. Although echolocation is usually associated with bats, it is not characteristic of all bats. Most echolocating bats produce signals in the larynx, but within one family of mainly non-echolocating species (Pteropodidae), a few species use echolocation sounds produced by tongue clicks. Here we demonstrate, using data obtained from micro-computed tomography scans of 26 species (n = 35 fluid-preserved bats), that proximal articulation of the stylohyal bone (part of the mammalian hyoid apparatus) with the tympanic bone always distinguishes laryngeally echolocating bats from all other bats (that is, non-echolocating pteropodids and those that echolocate with tongue clicks). In laryngeally echolocating bats, the proximal end of the stylohyal bone directly articulates with the tympanic bone and is often fused with it. Previous research on the morphology of the stylohyal bone in the oldest known fossil bat (Onychonycteris finneyi) suggested that it did not echolocate, but our findings suggest that O. finneyi may have used laryngeal echolocation because its stylohyal bones may have articulated with its tympanic bones. The present findings reopen basic questions about the timing and the origin of flight and echolocation in the early evolution of bats. Our data also provide an independent anatomical character by which to distinguish laryngeally echolocating bats from other bats.