The implications of flight on the behavioural and physiological ecology and life histories of flying vertebrates

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As part of my research program on the implications of flight on the behavioural and physiological ecology and life histories of bats, I will conduct several projects in the Yukon. The unique northern environments will allow me to test predictions regarding the evolution and diversity of life histories, how nocturnal animals deal with no night, and the potential impacts of climate change on northern ecosystems. For example, the northern limit of bats may be determined by environmental conditions such as temperature. Climate change may allow populations to expand northward, but if the short nights at high latitudes preclude individuals from feeding for long enough to obtain energy for reproduction, their northward expansion may be limited. We will determine how bats in the Yukon adjust their feeding behaviour to cool temperatures and short nights. We will also determine how they select roosts so as to minimize the costs of staying warm in a cold environment, and how the combination of feeding and roosting behaviours influence growth and reproduction. A second area of research in the Yukon will examine the effects of spruce beetle infestations on bat feeding behaviour and small mammal populations. Spruce beetles have caused extensive changes to forests and we will determine how those changes compare to those caused by other disturbances, both natural (fire) and man-made (logging).