Roost selection and social organization of myotis in maternity colonies
department or school: Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
department or school: Biology, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Rensel, Leah J.
issued: 2021-06-23T21:55:09Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Wild animals often congregate in social groups to enhance individual and group survival. Social cooperation allows animals to share limited resources among conspecifics without incurring the costs of competition. Many reproductive bats demonstrate social cooperation by congregating in maternity colony roosts, which are critical but limited habitat components for North American bat populations. Female myotis bat species may select artificial structures, such as bat boxes and buildings to form their colonies, and may move among multiple roosts throughout the season. Female little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) and Yuma bats (M. yumanesis), for example, form maternity colonies during the summer to rear their young. I studied two colonies in artificial structures near Vancouver, British Columbia, to assess social behavior and understand what conditions influenced day roost selection. During summer 2019, I used Passive Integrated Technology (PIT-tags and scanners) to track individuals’ daily roost selection. I monitored temperature and humidity at all known roosts and used radio telemetry to find previously unknown roosts. Yuma myotis and little brown myotis used at least 5 roosts at each site and switched locations frequently between roosts. Bats selected roosts within specific temperature ranges likely corresponding to their thermoneutral zone. Bats were less likely to switch during lactation when the pups were vulnerable and most likely to leave a roost during post-lactation when the pups were volant. Yuma myotis and little brown myotis formed strong, close associations with conspecifics during pregnancy and lactation, which then fragmented during post lactation when adults could roost independently with volant pups. Little brown myotis left the maternity site in August, while Yuma myotis persisted until September. During this time, Yuma myotis mixed with conspecifics from nearby maternity colonies in a previously unoccupied roost. My findings suggest land managers sho…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/78771
note: Roost Selection and Social Organization of Myotis in Maternity Colonies by Leah J. Rensel B.Sc., Linfield College, 2013 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) June 2021 © Leah J. Rensel, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Roost Selection and Social Organization of Myotis in Maternity Colonies Submitted by Leah J. Rensel in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science. Examining Committee: Dr. Karen E. Hodges, Biology Department, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences Supervisor Dr. Cori Lausen, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Adam Ford, Biology Department, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Katie Marshall, Biology Department, Vancouver Faculty of Sciences University Examiner iii Abstract Wild animals often congregate in social groups to enhance individual and group survival. Social cooperation allows animals to share limited resources among conspecifics without incurring the costs of competition. Many reproductive bats demonstrate social cooperation by congregating in maternity colony roosts, which are critical but limited habitat components for North American bat populations. Female myotis bat species may select artificial structures, such as bat boxes and buildings to form their colonies, and may move among multiple roosts throughout the season. Female little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) and Yuma bats (M. yumanesis), for example, form maternity colonies during the summer to rear their young. I studied two colonies in artificial structures near Vancouver, British Columbia, to assess social behavior and understand what conditions influenced day roost selection. During summer 2019, I u…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0398503
language: eng
degree discipline: Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Hodges, Karen E.
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/78771