dc.contributor.author
Roeleke, Manuel
dc.contributor.author
Johannsen, Lilith
dc.contributor.author
Voigt, Christian C.
dc.date.accessioned
2019-05-02T11:05:47Z
dc.date.available
2019-05-02T11:05:47Z
dc.identifier.uri
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/24518
dc.identifier.uri
http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-2282
dc.description.abstract
Predators that depend on patchily distributed prey face the problem of finding food patches where they can successfully compete for prey. While the competitive exclusion principle suggests that species can only coexist if their ecological niches show considerable differences, newer theory proposes that local coexistence can be facilitated by so-called stabilizing and equalizing mechanisms. A prerequisite to identify such mechanisms is the understanding of the strength and the nature of competition (i.e., interference or exploitation). We studied the interaction between two open-space foraging bats by testing if common noctule bats Nyctalus noctula shift their space use in response to simulated aggregations of conspecifics or heterospecific Pipistrellus nathusii. When confronted with playbacks of heterospecifics, N. noctula increased their activity in early summer, but decreased activity in late summer. This pattern was accompanied by a decrease in the proportion of large insects in late summer, suggesting a more intense competition for food in late compared to early summer. When confronted with playbacks of conspecifics, N. noctula did not change their activity, irrespective of season. Our results indicate that in early summer, intraspecific competition is more severe than interspecific competition for insectivorous bats. Likely, conspecifics engage in interference competition for flight space, and may suffer from reduced prey detectability as echolocation calls of conspecifics interfere with each other. During insect rich times, interspecific competition on the other hand may be mediated by fine scale vertical partitioning and the use non-interfering echolocation frequencies. In contrast, when food is scarce in late summer, bats may engage in exploitation competition. Our data suggests that N. noctula avoid aggregations of more agile bats like P. nathusii, probably due to impeded hunting success. Yet, as fast and efficient fliers, N. noctula may be able to escape this disadvantage by exploiting more distant foraging patches.
en
dc.rights.uri
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject
biodiversity
en
dc.subject
Nyctalus noctula
en
dc.subject.ddc
500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
dc.title
How Bats Escape the Competitive Exclusion Principle—Seasonal Shift From Intraspecific to Interspecific Competition Drives Space Use in a Bat Ensemble
dc.type
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.articlenumber
101
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.doi
10.3389/fevo.2018.00101
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.journaltitle
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.volume
6
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00101
refubium.affiliation
Biologie, Chemie, Pharmazie
refubium.resourceType.isindependentpub
no
dcterms.accessRights.openaire
open access