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Using hydrogen isotopes to assign origins of bats in the eastern United States

Informally Refereed

Abstract


Stable hydrogen isotopes (dDs) in metabolically inert tissues such as feathers and hair provide a set of endogenous markers that may be useful for establishing migratory connectivity in animals. We tested the assumption of a clear relationship between dD values of growing-season–weighted average precipitation (dDp) derived from 2 geographic information system (GIS) models or latitude (LAT) and dD values in bat hair (dDh), and examined intra- and interspecific variation in dDh of 4 bat species in the eastern United States. We analyzed 251 hair samples from 1 long-distance migrant (eastern red bat [Lasiurus borealis]) and 3 regional migrants (Indiana bat [Myotis sodalis], northern long-eared bat [M. septentrionalis], and little brown bat [M. lucifugus]) captured during the reproductive period (pregnancy and lactation) when bats are resident. LAT explained more of the variation in  performed better for some species.

Keywords

bats, interspecific variation, intraspecific variation, Lasiurus borealis, migration, Myotis lucifugus, Myotis septentrionalis, Myotis sodalis, stable hydrogen isotope analysis

Citation

Britzke, Eric R.; Loeb, Susan C.; Hobson, Keith A.; Romanek, Christopher S.; Vonhof, Maarten J. 2009. Using hydrogen isotopes to assign origins of bats in the eastern United States. Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 90(3): 743-751
Citations
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/33604