Data from: European free-tailed bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast

O'Mara MT, Amorim F, McCracken GF, Mata V, Safi K, Wikelski M, Beja P, Rebelo H, Dechmann DKN. 2021. Data from: European free-tailed bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9

Abstract

During the day, flying animals exploit the environmental energy landscape by seeking out thermal or orographic uplift, or extracting energy from wind gradients. However, most of these energy sources are not thought to be available at night because of the lower thermal potential in the nocturnal atmosphere, as well as the difficulty of locating features that generate uplift. Despite this, several bat species have been observed hundreds to thousands of meters above the ground. Individuals make repeated, energetically costly high-altitude ascents, and others fly at some of the fastest speeds observed for powered vertebrate flight. We hypothesized that bats use orographic uplift to reach high altitudes, and that both this uplift and bat high-altitude ascents would be highly predictable. By superimposing detailed three-dimensional GPS tracking of European free-tailed bats (Tadarida teniotis) on high-resolution regional wind data, we show that bats do indeed use the energy of orographic uplift to climb to over 1,600 m, and also that they reach maximum sustained self-powered airspeeds of 135 km h−1. We show that wind and topography can predict areas of the landscape able to support high-altitude ascents, and that bats use these locations to reach high altitudes while reducing airspeeds. Bats then integrate wind conditions to guide high-altitude ascents, deftly exploiting vertical wind energy in the nocturnal landscape.

Keywords

Tadarida teniotis,animal tracking,European free-tailed bat,GPS logger,Tadarida teniotis

Taxa

Taxon

Tadarida teniotis

European Free-tailed Bat

Sensors

Sensor

GPS

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.12.042

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.1055

BibTex

@misc{001/1_52nn82r9,
  title = {Data from: European free-tailed bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast},
  author = {O'Mara, MT and Amorim, F and McCracken, GF and Mata, V and Safi, K and Wikelski, M and Beja, P and Rebelo, H and Dechmann, DKN},
  year = {2021},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9
T1  - Data from: European free-tailed bats use topography and nocturnal updrafts to fly high and fast
AU  - O'Mara, M. Teague
AU  - Amorim, Francisco
AU  - McCracken, Gary F.
AU  - Mata, Vanessa
AU  - Safi, Kamran
AU  - Wikelski, Martin
AU  - Beja, Pedro
AU  - Rebelo, Hugo
AU  - Dechmann, Dina K.N.
Y1  - 2021/02/04
KW  - Tadarida teniotis
KW  - animal movement
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - European free-tailed bat
KW  - GPS logger
KW  - Tadarida teniotis
KW  - Tadarida teniotis
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.52nn82r9
ER  -

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