First application of satellite telemetry to track African straw-coloured fruit bat migration
First application of satellite telemetry to track African straw-coloured fruit bat migration
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00425.x
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发表时间：
2008-06-01
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Cumming, G. S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Richter, H. V.;Cumming, G. S.
尽管长期以来人们意识到果蝠潜在的重要生态作用，但我们对绝大多数物种的生态学知之甚少。在这里，我们报告了一项试验性卫星跟踪研究的结果，该研究旨在确定稻草色果蝠Eidolon helvum的移动规模。这是有史以来第一次尝试使用卫星遥测来追踪非洲果蝠。2005年12月，我们在卡桑卡国家公园用太阳能充电的12克卫星发射器标记了四只蝙蝠，在149天的时间里总共获得了104个不同的位置定位。在迁徙之前，蝙蝠一晚在距离栖息地59公里的地方觅食；相比之下，一只迁徙的个体在一夜之间移动了370公里。在研究期间，蝙蝠平均每天旅行29公里(-1)，而似乎从卡桑卡向西北方向迁徙的蝙蝠平均每天旅行90公里(-1)。一只蝙蝠在149天内累计行驶的最大里程为2518公里。结果确凿地表明，稻草色果蝠E.helvum每年能够在中非迁徙数千公里，这意味着赞比亚北部的水果豆类比刚果民主共和国每年同期提供的任何水果都要丰富。
Despite long-standing awareness of the potentially important ecological role of fruit bats, we know little about the ecology of the vast majority of species. Here we report the results of a pilot satellite tracking study aimed at establishing the scale of movement of the straw-coloured fruit bat Eidolon helvum. This was the first ever attempt to track African fruit bats using satellite telemetry. We tagged four bats with solar-charged 12 g satellite transmitters at Kasanka National Park in December 2005 and obtained a combined total of 104 different location fixes over a 149-day period. Before migrating, bats foraged as far as 59 km from the roost in a single evening; by contrast, one migrating individual moved 370 km in one night. Bats travelled an average 29 km day(-1) over the period of study, with bats that appeared to be migrating moving north-west from Kasanka at an average 90 km day(-1). The greatest cumulative distance travelled by a single bat was 2518 km in 149 days. The results show conclusively that the straw-coloured fruit bat E. helvum is capable of migrating thousands of kilometres across central Africa on an annual basis, implying that the fruit pulse in northern Zambia is richer than anything on offer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the same time of the year.