Recommended reading

Here are some links to new research and blog posts that I think are worth a read...

In the wild

Always great to read biologging papers - especially where the technique is used so effectively!

dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2021-0142

Long live the migrants

A great synthesis of theories and data regarding life history strategies and longevity.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19256-0

Efficient Flight

Some cool work from the Hedenstrom lab and Linus Hedh’s PhD on efficiency of flight in migratory birds. Linus looked at how different methods of measuring metabolism in uninstrumented animals compare and gives some cool insights.

Hedh et al 2020 https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.223545

Blood Ties

Vampire bats that share food and groom each other in captivity are more likely to stick together when they’re released back into the wild!

Ripperger et al (2019) Vampire Bats that Cooperate in the Lab Maintain Their Social Networks in the Wild. Current Biology

Hot Torpor

Stephanie Reher doing some amazing work in the field on Malagasy bats. Highlighting the flexibility of thermoregulatory strategies in bats and specifically animals in hot dry climates. Torpor isn't just for winter!

Reher et al (2018). Short and hyperthermic torpor responses in the Malagasy bat Macronycteris commersoni reveal a broader hypometabolic scope in heterotherms. Journal of Comparative Physiology B.

Detecting Entry and Arousal from Torpor

Amanda MacCannell has done some interesting work in James Staples' lab looking at heart rate data as an accurate indicator of torpor entry and arousal in Ground Squirrels! Something I had always wanted to do with my bat data. Really great stuff.

MacCannell et al. (2018). An improved method for detecting torpor entrance and arousal in a mammalian hibernator using heart rate data. The Journal of Experimental Biology

Photo by BirdImages/iStock / Getty Images

Hovering metabolic rate and efficiency

New research out this week from the Welch Lab on the extraordinary metabolism of flying hummingbirds and why size matters with regard to fuel efficiency.

Groom et al. (2018) Integrating morphology and kinematics in the scaling of hummingbird hovering metabolic rate and efficiency | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Heterothermy Trade offs

Great review from last year by Craig Willis on the trade offs bats face with regarding to budgeting their energy and switching between energetically expensive flight and energy saving torpor.

Willis, C.K.R. (2017) Tradeoffs influencing the physiological ecology of hibernation in temperate-zone bats. Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Behavioural consistency in Fruit bats

Interesting new research out this year from the Yovel Lab on the behaviour of Egyptian fruit bats and how networks and relationships remain consistent over time.

Harten et al (2018) Persistent producer-scounger relationships in bats. Science Advances