Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic relationships between roost-mates in a fission–fusion society of tree-roosting big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Kin-based patterns of associations are often observed in group living mammals. Colonies of forest-living big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) exhibit fission–fusion roosting behavior and female philopatry. Within a roosting area of forest, adult females are distributed into several subgroups roosting in different trees during the day. At night, adult females leave the roost subgroups to forage and, upon return to the roosting area at dawn, both the individual composition and location of subgroups often change. Individuals exhibit nonrandom roosting associations, and we hypothesized that genetic relationships would influence roosting associations. We determined (1) whether the strength of roosting associations between pairs of bats (based on radiotelemetry) was correlated with relatedness, (2) whether individuals that roosted together in roost subgroups were more related than by chance, and (3) from roost subgroups, the pairs of bats that roosted nonrandomly and whether the proportion of related pairs was higher than expected at random. Relatedness measures were based on microsatellite genotyping and mitochondrial DNA sequences. We found from all analyses that roosting associations were not influenced by relatedness or matrilineal relationships. These results provide clear evidence that, contrary to other mammals, kinship does not mediate roosting associations within forest living big brown bats that exhibit fission–fusion roosting behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Archie EA, Moss CJ, Alberts SC (2006) The ties that bind: genetic relatedness predicts the fission and fusion of social groups in wild African elephants. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 273:513–522

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Avilés L, Fletcher JA, Cutter AD (2004) The kin composition of social groups: trading group size for degree of altruism. Am Nat 164:132–144

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barclay RMR, Harder LD (2003) Life histories of bats:life in the slow lane. In: Kunz TH, Fenton MB (eds) Bat ecology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 209–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Brigham RM, Brigham AC (1989) Evidence for association between a mother bat and its young during and after foraging. Am Midl Nat 121:205–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burland TM, Barratt EM, Nichols RA, Racey PA (2001) Mating patterns, relatedness and the basis of natal philopatry in the brown long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus. Mol Ecol 10:1309–1321

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burland TM, Worthington Wilmer J (2001) Seeing in the dark: molecular approaches to the study of bat populations. Biol Rev 76:389–409

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Castella V, Ruedi M (2000) Characterization of highly variable microsatellite loci in the bat Myotis myotis (Chiroptera:Vespertilionidae). Mol Ecol 9:1000–1002

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Castella V, Ruedi M, Excoffier L (2001) Contrasted patterns of mitochondrial and nuclear structure among nursery colonies of the bat Myotis myotis. J Evol Biol 14:708–720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Ruiter JR, Geffen E (1998) Relatedness of matrilines, dispersing males and social groups in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 265:79–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engh AL, Siebert ER, Greenberg DA, Holekamp KE (2005) Patterns of alliance formation and postconflict aggression indicate spotted hyaenas recognize third-party relationships. Anim Behav 69:209–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faulkes CG, Arruda MF, Monteiro da Cruz MAO (2003) Matrilineal genetic structure within and among populations of the cooperatively breeding common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus. Mol Ecol 12:1101–1108

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fumagalli L, Taberlet P, Favre L, Hausser J (1996) Origin and evolution of homologous repeated sequences in the mitochondrial DNA control region of shrews. Mol Biol Evol 13:31–46

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ginsberg JR, Young TP (1992) Measuring association between individuals and groups in behavioural studies. Anim Behav 44:377–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall TA (1999) BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp Ser 41:95–98

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holekamp KE, Cooper SM, Katona CI, Berry NA, Frank LG, Smale L (1997) Patterns of association among female spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). J Mammal 78:55–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollis L (2004) Thermoregulation by big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus): ontogeny, proximate mechanisms and dietary influences. Ph.D. thesis, University of Calgary

  • Jones KE, MacLarnon A (2001) Bat life histories: testing models of mammalian life-history evolution. Evol Ecol Res 3:465–476

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalcounis MC, Brigham RM (1998) Secondary use of aspen cavities by tree-roosting big brown bats. J Wildl Manage 62:603–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, König B (1999) Fission, fusion and nonrandom associations in female Bechstein’s bats (Myotis bechsteinii). Behaviour 136:1187–1202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Reckardt K (2003) Information transfer about roosts in female Bechstein’s bats: an experimental field study. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 270:511–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Mayer F, Petit E (2002a) Extreme sex-biased dispersal in the communally breeding, nonmigratory Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii). Mol Ecol 11:1491–1498

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Safi K, Konig B (2002b) Mean colony relatedness is a poor predictor of colony structure and female philopatry in the communally breeding Bechstein’s bat (Myotis bechsteinii). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 52:203–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Almasi B, Ribi N, Thiel D, Lüpold S (2003) Social interactions among wild female Bechstein’s bats (Myotis bechsteinii) living in a maternity colony. Acta Ethol 5:107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurta A, Baker R (1990) Eptesicus fuscus. Am Soc Mammal Mammal Species 356:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lausen CL, Barclay RMR (2003) Thermoregulation and roost selection by reproductive female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) roosting in rock crevices. J Zool 260:235–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lukas D, Reynolds V, Boesch C, Vigilant L (2005) To what extent does living in a group mean living with kin? Mol Ecol 14:2181–2196

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Manly BFJ (1991) Randomization and Monte Carlo methods in biology. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall T, Slate J, Kruuk L, Pemberton JM (1998) Statistical confidence for likelihood-based paternity inference in natural populations. Mol Ecol 7:639–655

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maurer BA, Brown JH, Dayan T, Enquist BJ, Ernest SKM, Hadly EA, Haskell JP, Jablonski D, Jones KE, Kaufman DM, Lyons SK, Niklas KJ, Porter WP, Roy K, Smith FA, Tiffney B, Willig MR (2004) Similarities in body size distributions of small-bodied flying vertebrates. Evol Ecol Res 6:783–797

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell CFJ (2000) Cryptic local populations in a temperate rainforest bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus in New Zealand. Anim Conserv 3:287–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Farrell MJ, Studier EH (1973) Reproductive, growth, and development in Myotis thysanodes and M lucifugus (Chiroptera:Vespertilionidae). Ecology 54:18–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Packer C, Pusey AE, Eberly LE (2001) Egalitarianism in female African lions. Science 293:690–693

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Queller DC, Goodnight KF (1989) Estimating relatedness using genetic markers. Evolution 43:258–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Racey P, Swift S (1981) Variation in gestation length in a colony of pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) from year to year. J Reprod Fertil 61:123–129

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond M, Rousset F (1995) GENEPOP (version 1.2): population genetics software for exact tests and ecumenicism. J Heredity 86:248–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes M, Grant W, Wardell-Johnson MP, Rhodes BR (2006) Applying network analysis to the conservation of habitat trees in urban environments: a case study from Brisbane, Australia. Conserv Biol 20:861–870

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rice WR (1989) Analyzing tables of statistical test. Evolution 43:223–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossiter SJ, Jones G, Ransome RD, Barratt EM (2002) Relatedness structure and kin-biased foraging in the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 51:510–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossiter SJ, Ransome RD, Faulkes CG, Le Comber SC, Jones G (2005) Mate fidelity and intra-lineage polygyny in greater horseshoe bats. Nature 437:408–411

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Russo D, Cistrone L, Jones G (2005) Spatial and temporal patterns of roost use by tree-dwelling barbastelle bats Barbastella barbastellus. Ecography 28:769–776

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silk JB (2002) Kin selection in primate groups. Int J Primatol 23:849–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silk JB, Altmann J, Alberts SC (2006a) Social relationships among adult female baboons (Papio cynocephalus) I. Variation in the strength of social bonds. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61:183–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silk JB, Alberts SC, Altmann J (2006b) Social relationships among adult female baboons (Papio cynocephalus) II. Variation in the quality and stability of social bonds. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61:197–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith VA, King AP, West MJ (2002) The context of social learning: association patterns in a captive flock of brown-headed cowbirds. Anim Behav 63:23–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas DW, Dorais M, Bergeron JM (1990) Winter energy budgets and the cost of arousals for hibernating little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus. J Mammal 71:475–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trune DR, Slobodchikoff CN (1978) Position of immatures in pallid bat clusters: a case of reciprocal altruism? J Mammal 59:193–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Horn RC, Engh AL, Scribner KT, Funk SM, Holekamp KE (2004) Behavioural structuring of relatedness in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) suggests direct fitness benefits of clan-level cooperation. Mol Ecol 13:449–458

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Schaik CP (1999) The socioecology of fission–fusion sociality in orangutans. Primates 40:69–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vonhof MJ, Davis CS, Strobeck C, Fenton MB (2001) Characterization of microsatellite loci in Spix’s disk-winged bats (Thyroptera tricolor). Mol Ecol Notes 1:73–75

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vonhof MJ, Davis CS, Fenton MB, Strobeck C (2002) Characterization of dinucleotide microsatellite loci in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), and their use in other North American Vespertilionid bats. Mol Ecol Notes 2:167–169

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vonhof MJ, Barber D, Fenton MB, Strobeck C (2006) A tale of two siblings: multiple paternity in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) demonstrated using microsatellite markers. Mol Ecol 15:241–247

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wahaj SA, Van Horn RC, Van Horn TL, Dreyer R, Hilgris R, Schwarz J, Holekamp KE (2004) Kin discrimination in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta): nepotism among siblings. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:237–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilde CJ, Knight CH, Racey PA (1999) Influence of torpor on milk protein composition and secretion in lactating bats. J Exp Biol 284:35–41

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1985a) The social organization of the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus I. Pattern and cause of association. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 17:111–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1985b) The social organization of the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus II. Mating system genetic structure and relatedness. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 17:123–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1992a) Information transfer at evening bat colonies. Anim Behav 44:501–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1992b) Communal nursing in the evening bat, Nycticeius humeralis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 31:225–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM (2004) Roost switching, roost sharing and social cohesion: forest-dwelling big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, conform to the fission–fusion model. Anim Behav 68:495–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM (2005) Erratum: Roost switching, roost sharing and social cohesion: forest-dwelling big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, conform to the fission–fusion model (vol 68, pg 495, 2004). Anim Behav 69:755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM (2007) Social thermoregulation exerts more influence than microclimate on forest roost preferences by a cavity-dwelling bat. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:97–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Kolar KA, Karst AL, Kalcounis-Rueppell MC, Brigham RM (2003) Medium- and long-term reuse of trembling aspen cavities as roosts by big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Acta Chiropt 5:85–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Voss CM, Brigham RM (2006) Roost selection by forest-living female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). J Mammal 87:345–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Logistic support was provided by the University of Regina’s Biology Department. Funding was provided by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to MCKR; a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant to RMB; a North Carolina Academy of Science Award to JDM; and American Society of Mammalogists Grant-in-Aid, Nature Regina Scholarship, and Saskatchewan Environment Scholarship to KAK. We are grateful to O. Rueppell for the assistance in Visual Basic programming used for our resampling and randomization tests. We thank M. Ranalli, D. Arbuthnott, K. Bondo, B. Graham, R. Philips, and K. Lipscomb for the help in the field. This manuscript was improved by the discussions with O. Rueppell, M. Schug, M.J. Vonhof, C. Lausen, and S.J. Richter. Comments from D. Blumstein, A. Schulte-Hostedde, B. Fenton, and anonymous reviewers improved the previous versions of this manuscript. We are thankful to M. J. Vonhof, C. Lausen, and I. Delisle for providing access to unpublished data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 312 Eberhart Building, 321 McIver Street, UNC Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27412, USA

    Jackie D. Metheny & Matina C. Kalcounis-Rueppell

  2. Department of Biology and Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Craig K. R. Willis

  3. Department of Biology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    Kristen A. Kolar & R. Mark Brigham

Authors
  1. Jackie D. Metheny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Matina C. Kalcounis-Rueppell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Craig K. R. Willis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kristen A. Kolar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. R. Mark Brigham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jackie D. Metheny.

Additional information

Communicated by A. Schulte-Hostedde

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Metheny, J.D., Kalcounis-Rueppell, M.C., Willis, C.K.R. et al. Genetic relationships between roost-mates in a fission–fusion society of tree-roosting big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 1043–1051 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0531-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0531-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation