Data from: Commuting fruit bats beneficially modulate their flight in relation to wind

Dechmann, Dina K.N.; Fahr, Jakob; Wikelski, Martin

Data from: Commuting fruit bats beneficially modulate their flight in relation to wind

Files

Fruit bats in Ghana (data from Sapir et al. 2014).csv (157.82 KB)
: dataset-file

README.txt (10.06 KB)
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Fruit bats in Ghana (data from Sapir et al. 2014)-reference-data.csv (2.59 KB): dataset-file

Date

2014-03-18

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v

Authors

Dechmann, Dina K.N.

Fahr, Jakob

Wikelski, Martin

Citation

Dechmann DKN, Fahr J, Wikelski M. 2014. Data from: Commuting fruit bats beneficially modulate their flight in relation to wind. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v

Abstract

NOTE: An updated and larger version of this dataset is available. See https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.k8n02jn8. ABSTRACT: When animals move, their tracks may be strongly influenced by the motion of air or water, and this may affect the speed, energetics and prospects of the journey. Flying organisms, such as bats, may thus benefit from modifying their flight in response to the wind vector. Yet, practical difficulties have so far limited the understanding of this response for free-ranging bats. We tracked nine straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) that flew 42.5+17.5km (mean + s.d.) to and from their roost near Accra, Ghana. Following detailed atmospheric simulations, we found that bats compensated for wind drift, as predicted under constant winds, and decreased their airspeed in response to tailwind assistance such that their groundspeed remained nearly constant. In addition, bats increased their airspeed with increasing crosswind speed. Overall, bats modulated their airspeed in relation to wind speed at different wind directions in a manner predicted by a two-dimensional optimal movement model. We conclude that sophisticated behavioural mechanisms to minimize the cost of transport under various wind conditions have evolved in bats. The bats’ response to the wind is similar to that reported for migratory birds and insects, suggesting convergent evolution of flight behaviours in volant organisms.

Keywords

Eidolon helvum,Eidolon helvum,flight behaviour,fruit bats

Taxa

Taxon

Eidolon helvum

African Straw-colored Fruit Bat, straw-colored fruit bat

Sensors

Sensor

GPS

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0018

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.357

BibTex

@misc{001/1_62s17b4v,
  title = {Data from: Commuting fruit bats beneficially modulate their flight in relation to wind},
  author = {Dechmann, DKN and Fahr, J and Wikelski, M},
  year = {2014},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v
T1  - Data from: Commuting fruit bats beneficially modulate their flight in relation to wind
AU  - Dechmann, Dina K.N.
AU  - Fahr, Jakob
AU  - Wikelski, Martin
Y1  - 2014/03/18
KW  - Eidolon helvum
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Eidolon helvum
KW  - flight behaviour
KW  - fruit bats
KW  - Eidolon helvum
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.62s17b4v
ER  -

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