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High manoeuvring costs force narrow-winged molossid bats to forage in open space

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Abstract

Molossid bats are specialised aerial-hawkers that, like their diurnal ecological counterparts, swallows and swifts, hunt for insects in open spaces. The long and narrow wings of molossids are considered energetically adapted to fast flight between resource patches, but less suited for manoeuvring in more confined spaces, such as between tree-tops or in forest gaps. To understand whether a potential increase in metabolic costs of manoeuvring excludes molossids from foraging in more confined spaces, we measured energy costs and speed of manoeuvring flight in two tropical molossids, 18 g Molossus currentium and 23 g Molossus sinaloae, when flying in a ~500 m3 hexagonal enclosure (~120 m2 area), which is of similar dimensions as typical forest gaps. Flight metabolism averaged 10.21 ± 3.00 and 11.32 ± 3.54 ml CO2 min−1, and flight speeds 5.65 ± 0.47 and 6.27 ± 0.68 m s−1 for M. currentium and M. sinaloae respectively. Metabolic rate during flight was higher for the M. currentium than for the similar-sized, but broader-winged frugivore Carollia sowelli, corroborating that broad-winged bats are better adapted to flying in confined spaces. These higher metabolic costs of manoeuvring flight may be caused by having to fly slower than the optimal foraging speed, and by the additional metabolic costs for centripetal acceleration in curves. This may preclude molossids from foraging efficiently between canopy trees or in forest gaps. The surprisingly brief burst of foraging activity at dusk of many molossids might be related to the cooling of the air column after sunset, which drives airborne insects to lower strata. Accordingly, foraging activity of molossids may quickly turn unprofitable when the abundance of insects decreases above the canopy.

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Abbreviations

AP13CE:

13C Excess enrichment (in atom %)

AR:

Aspect ratio

F lift :

Lift force (N)

F centripetal :

Centripetal force (N)

g :

Gravitational force (9.81 m s−2)

m b :

Body mass (kg)

MC:

Molossus currentium

MS:

Molossus sinaloae

k c :

Fractional turnover (min−1)

N c :

Body bicarbonate pool (mmol)

t :

Time (min)

v :

Flight speed (m s−1)

v flown :

Flown flight speed (m s−1)

v mr :

Maximum range flight speed (m s−1)

v mp :

Minimum power flight speed (m s−1)

\( \dot{V}_{{{\text{CO}}_{ 2} }} \) :

Rate of CO2 production (ml min−1)

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Daniel Lewanzik, Ivailo Borrisov, Karin Schneeberger and Silke L. Voigt-Heucke for help during the 2010 field work, and Daniela Rabaiotti, Eugenia Cordero, Frederick Sutton and Luke Worley for help during the 2011 field work. They thank Silke Voigt-Heucke for comments on an earlier draft, the organisation for tropical studies for allowance to work at La Selva biological station and the authorities for granting research permission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany

    Christian C. Voigt

  2. Behavioral Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustr. 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Christian C. Voigt

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK

    Marc W. Holderied

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  1. Christian C. Voigt
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Correspondence to Christian C. Voigt.

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Communicated by G. Heldmaier.

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Voigt, C.C., Holderied, M.W. High manoeuvring costs force narrow-winged molossid bats to forage in open space. J Comp Physiol B 182, 415–424 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-011-0627-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-011-0627-6

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