Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14376
Title: Some like it cold: summer torpor by freetail bats in the Australian arid zone
Contributor(s): Bondarenco, Artiom (author); Koertner, Gerhard  (author)orcid ; Geiser, Fritz  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1007/s00360-013-0779-7
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/14376
Abstract: Bats are among the most successful groups of Australian arid-zone mammals and, therefore, must cope with pronounced seasonal fluctuations in ambient temperature (Tₐ), food availability and unpredictable weather patterns. As knowledge about the energy conserving strategies in desert bats is scant, we used temperature-telemetry to quantify the thermal physiology of tree-roosting inland freetail bats ('Mormopterus' species 3, 8.5 g, n = 8) at Sturt National Park over two summers (2010-2012), when Tₐ was high and insects were relatively abundant. Torpor use and activity were affected by Tₐ. Bats remained normothermic on the warmest days; they employed one "morning" torpor bout on most days and typically exhibited two torpor bouts on the coolest days. Overall, animals employed torpor on 67.9 % of bat-days and torpor bout duration ranged from 0.5 to 39.3 h. At any given Tₐ, torpor bouts were longer in 'Mormopterus' than in bats from temperate and subtropical habitats. Furthermore, unlike bats from other climatic regions that used only partial passive rewarming, 'Mormopterus' aroused from torpor using either almost entirely passive (68.9 % of all arousals) or active rewarming (31.1 %). We provide the first quantitative data on torpor in a free-ranging arid-zone molossid during summer. They demonstrate that this desert bat uses torpor extensively in summer and often rewarms passively from torpor to maximise energy and water conservation.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 183(8), p. 1113-1122
Publisher: Springer
Place of Publication: Germany
ISSN: 1432-136X
0174-1578
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060899 Zoology not elsewhere classified
060806 Animal Physiological Ecology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310999 Zoology not elsewhere classified
310907 Animal physiological ecology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960899 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of Environments not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 189999 Other environmental management not elsewhere classified
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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