Excepting myotis capaccinii, the wings' contribution to take-off performance does not correlate with foraging ecology in six species of insectivorous bat

Gardiner, JD; Altringham, JD; Papadatou, E; Nudds, RL

Abstract

Take-off in bats is separated into two distinct phases: an initial jump
and a subsequent wing powered acceleration. Here, using footage
from a high-speed camera, the first comparative study of the
performance during the wing induced phase of take-off in six
insectivorous bat species is described. Despite distinct differences
in foraging strategy, the mass specific power generated by the bats
during wing induced take-off did not differ between species, with the
exception of Myotis capaccinii. This suggests that differences in
take-off performance may only be evident in bats that exhibit
particularly unusual foraging strategies, such as the trawling
behaviour of M. capaccinii – with differences in the remaining
species only manifesting in subtler aspects of flight performance
such as agility or manoeuvrability. The poorer take-off performance
of M. capaccinii could be related to either a reduction in wing-stroke
amplitude to stop the wings hitting the water’s surface during
foraging or perhaps an effect of having very large feet. No scaling
relationship between body mass and mass-specific take-off power
was found, which supports earlier research on birds and insects,
suggesting that the mass-specific muscle power available for flight
is broadly similar across a large range of body sizes and species.

Citation

Gardiner, J., Altringham, J., Papadatou, E., & Nudds, R. (2014). Excepting myotis capaccinii, the wings' contribution to take-off performance does not correlate with foraging ecology in six species of insectivorous bat. Biology Open, 3(11), 1057-1062. https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.20149159

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 22, 2014
• Publication Date: Nov 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: Dec 1, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Biology Open
• Electronic ISSN: 2046-6390
• Publisher: Company of Biologists
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 1057-1062
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.20149159
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.20149159
• Related Public URLs: http://bio.biologists.org/
• Additional Information: Grant Number: 2005/0135; Grant Number: RG061293