24
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Long-Distance and Frequent Movements of the Flying-Fox Pteropus poliocephalus: Implications for Management

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Flying-foxes (Pteropodidae) are large bats capable of long-distance flight. Many species are threatened; some are considered pests. Effective conservation and management of flying-foxes are constrained by lack of knowledge of their ecology, especially of movement patterns over large spatial scales. Using satellite telemetry, we quantified long-distance movements of the grey-headed flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus among roost sites in eastern Australia. Fourteen adult males were tracked for 2–40 weeks (mean 25 weeks). Collectively, these individuals utilised 77 roost sites in an area spanning 1,075 km by 128 km. Movement patterns varied greatly between individuals, with some travelling long distances. Five individuals travelled cumulative distances >1,000 km over the study period. Five individuals showed net displacements >300 km during one month, including one movement of 500 km within 48 hours. Seasonal movements were consistent with facultative latitudinal migration in part of the population. Flying-foxes shifted roost sites frequently: 64% of roost visits lasted <5 consecutive days, although some individuals remained at one roost for several months. Modal 2-day distances between consecutive roosts were 21–50 km (mean 45 km, range 3–166 km). Of 13 individuals tracked for >12 weeks, 10 moved >100 km in one or more weeks. Median cumulative displacement distances over 1, 10 and 30 weeks were 0 km, 260 km and 821 km, respectively. On average, over increasing time-periods, one additional roost site was visited for each additional 100 km travelled. These findings explain why culling and relocation attempts have had limited success in resolving human-bat conflicts in Australia. Flying-foxes are highly mobile between camps and regularly travel long distances. Consequently, local control actions are likely to have only temporary effects on local flying-fox populations. Developing alternative methods to manage these conflicts remains an important challenge that should be informed by a better understanding of the species’ movement patterns.

          Related collections

          Most cited references9

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Isolation of Hendra virus from pteropid bats: a natural reservoir of Hendra virus.

          Since it was first described in Australia in 1994, Hendra virus (HeV) has caused two outbreaks of fatal disease in horses and humans, and an isolated fatal horse case. Our preliminary studies revealed a high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to HeV in bats of the genus PTEROPUS:, but it was unclear whether this was due to infection with HeV or a related virus. We developed the hypothesis that HeV excretion from bats might be related to the birthing process and we targeted the reproductive tract for virus isolation. Three virus isolates were obtained from the uterine fluid and a pool of foetal lung and liver from one grey-headed flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), and from the foetal lung of one black flying-fox (P. alecto). Antigenically, these isolates appeared to be closely related to HeV, returning positive results on immunofluorescent antibody staining and constant-serum varying-virus neutralization tests. Using an HeV-specific oligonucleotide primer pair, genomic sequences of the isolates were amplified. Sequencing of 200 nucleotides in the matrix gene identified that these three isolates were identical to HeV. Isolations were confirmed after RNA extracted from original material was positive for HeV RNA when screened on an HeV Taqman assay. The isolation of HeV from pteropid bats corroborates our earlier serological and epidemiological evidence that they are a natural reservoir host of the virus.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: found
            Is Open Access

            Extreme endurance flights by landbirds crossing the Pacific Ocean: ecological corridor rather than barrier?

            Mountain ranges, deserts, ice fields and oceans generally act as barriers to the movement of land-dependent animals, often profoundly shaping migration routes. We used satellite telemetry to track the southward flights of bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica baueri), shorebirds whose breeding and non-breeding areas are separated by the vast central Pacific Ocean. Seven females with surgically implanted transmitters flew non-stop 8117–11 680 km (10 153±1043 s.d.) directly across the Pacific Ocean; two males with external transmitters flew non-stop along the same corridor for 7008–7390 km. Flight duration ranged from 6.0 to 9.4 days (7.8±1.3 s.d.) for birds with implants and 5.0 to 6.6 days for birds with externally attached transmitters. These extraordinary non-stop flights establish new extremes for avian flight performance, have profound implications for understanding the physiological capabilities of vertebrates and how birds navigate, and challenge current physiological paradigms on topics such as sleep, dehydration and phenotypic flexibility. Predicted changes in climatic systems may affect survival rates if weather conditions at their departure hub or along the migration corridor should change. We propose that this transoceanic route may function as an ecological corridor rather than a barrier, providing a wind-assisted passage relatively free of pathogens and predators.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Encephalitis caused by a Lyssavirus in fruit bats in Australia.

              This report describes the first pathologic and immunohistochemical recognition in Australia of a rabies-like disease in a native mammal, a fruit bat, the black flying fox (Pteropus alecto). A virus with close serologic and genetic relationships to members of the Lyssavirus genus of the family Rhabdoviridae was isolated in mice from the tissue homogenates of a sick juvenile animal.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                1932-6203
                2012
                3 August 2012
                : 7
                : 8
                : e42532
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Environment and Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia
                [2 ]School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
                [3 ]Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Malanda, Queensland, Australia
                University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Conceived and designed the experiments: BR CPC PE JK. Performed the experiments: BR. Analyzed the data: BR CPC PE JK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BR CPC PE JK. Wrote the paper: BR CPC PE JK.

                Article
                PONE-D-12-04336
                10.1371/journal.pone.0042532
                3411823
                22880021
                dbe1564a-0ca2-4fd9-b3ce-324854113f50
                Copyright @ 2012

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 7 February 2012
                : 9 July 2012
                Page count
                Pages: 12
                Funding
                This study was part funded by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management and by a PhD scholarship awarded by Griffith University to BR. New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (Grafton) provided additional in-kind support. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding received for this study.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology
                Ecology
                Community Ecology
                Ecological Risk
                Ecological Environments
                Terrestrial Environments
                Behavioral Ecology
                Conservation Science
                Population Biology
                Population Ecology
                Zoology
                Animal Behavior
                Mammalogy
                Veterinary Science
                Animal Types
                Wildlife

                Uncategorized
                Uncategorized

                Comments

                Comment on this article