publication . Article . Other literature type . 2016

Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing.

Name: Concealed by darkness: interactions between predatory bats and nocturnally migrating songbirds illuminated by DNA sequencing.
Keywords: Bird migration, Nyctalus lasiopterus, Noctules, Molecular diet, Trophic: Chiroptera

Javier Juste; David Pastor-Beviá; Juan L. García-Mudarra; Ana G. Popa-Lisseanu; Carlos F. Ibáñez;

Open Access English

Published: 18 Sep 2016

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Country: Spain

Summary

Abstract

Recently, several species of aerial-hawking bats have been found to prey on migrating songbirds, but details on this behaviour and its relevance for bird migration are still unclear. We sequenced avian DNA in feather-containing scats of the bird-feeding bat Nyctalus lasiopterus from Spain collected during bird migration seasons. We found very high prey diversity, with 31 bird species from eight families of Passeriformes, almost all of which were nocturnally flying sub-Saharan migrants. Moreover, species using tree hollows or nest boxes in the study area during migration periods were not present in the bats’ diet, indicating that birds are solely captured on the ...

doi: 10.1111/mec.13831

handle: 10261/146904

Subjects

free text keywords: Bird migration, Nyctalus lasiopterus, Noctules, Molecular diet, Trophic: Chiroptera, Trophic level, Ecology, Predation, Nest, Generalist and specialist species, Nocturnal, biology.organism_classification, biology, Predator

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