Browsing by Subject "lepakot"

Bats can act as potential vectors for various zoonotic diseases and other pathogens. Therefore their interactions with people should be examined to mitigate potential risks. Bats are small flying mammals and hide in small crevices during daylight hours, making them difficult to observe. Consequently, they have a capacity to “hitchhike” on ships to be dispersed over large distances. This study focused on anthropogenic unintentional bat translocations, i.e. hitchhiking bats. The study area is the Great Lakes region in North America. Using a web-based questionnaire survey, I asked the public about the frequency of bat-human encounters on ships, their nature, and perceived risks and incidents. I found that bats are commonly seen by people working on ships at the Great Lakes. Bats do not cause trouble other than scaring people. Based on photographic evidence, at least one bat was seen on a ship outside of its native range. Therefore ships might act as vectors, helping bats to disperse to new areas. This might provide pathways for pathogens to spread along, from bats to bats or from bats to humans. The risks related to hitchhiking bats seem to be rather limited. Rabies risk is the most obvious, but no cases of people getting rabies infection from hitchhiking bats were acknowledged. The possibility of ships translocating bats infected with Pseudogymnoascus destructans remains unknown. This study demonstrates how by engaging the public it is possible to gather novel scientific knowledge, and deepen our understanding about the relationship between man and wildlife. There are numerous hidden ways of how people interact with animal species. This study illuminates one of these ways, but many more are yet to be studied.

Even though bats have no specialized predators in the temperate zone, they are still predated on. In fact, 11% of their annual mortality is caused by avian predators, especially owls. Bats are particularly vulnerable at emergence from their roost because this behaviour is very predictable. Because a successful predation event is mortal, it would be expected that bats need antipredatory responses to avoid it. The time and focus for these responses need to be shared with foraging in a way that maximizes survival. I studied antipredatory responses of bats in two settings: 1. during roost emergence and 2. during foraging at tawny owl territories and at places where there have been no tawny owl sightings. I collected acoustic data from 24 roosts and 11 foraging grounds for 10-13 nights. The roost emergence data was collected with the help of citizen science. Two controlled predation threats, recorded tawny owl calls and nestling sounds, were used. Nestling sounds were only played during roost emergence. In both tests music and silence were used as controls. Owl calls, music or tawny owl territory have no effect on bat presence when they are foraging. However, bats alter their emergence time and leave over 20 minutes later when tawny owl calls are played outside the roost. There is no difference in exit time when music or nestling sounds are played. These results show that bats have antipredatory responses. They also suggest that bats may be able to recognize high-risk situations and allocate their behaviour accordingly or that they place higher importance on foraging than avoiding predation.