Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have discovered that some bats use storms to their advantage during their annual migration.
The migration of some bats is impressive. This is the case with the common Noctules, or Nyctalus noctula. These small mammals migrate about 1,600 km. But observing the migration of these bats is quite rare and difficult. This is the reason why this incident has remained almost a complete mystery.
Today, a team of researchers from the Max-InstitutePlankPlank In a study published in the journal, the behavior of animals has revealed the secret of their movements. Science. In particular, they discovered that Common Noctules “surf” to survive storms EnergyEnergy.
A state-of-the-art marking system
Thanks to new technology SensorSensorresearchers studied 71 common noctules during their spring migration across continental Europe. Each spring, for three years, scientists tagged common noctules in Switzerland, focusing specifically on females, which migrate more than males.
Only 5% of the weight On a large scaleOn a large scale The whole body of the bat, with a small tag attached to it OfOf The animals have several sensors that record the location of the bats, their activity level and temperature.the windthe wind the environment
Normally, scientists would need to get close enough to find marked individuals and download such detailed data. But their recent device has made it possible to make them accessible from anywhere. ” The beacons communicate with us wherever the bats are as they cover the whole of Europe, a bit like a cell phone network. “, explains co-author of the study, Tim Wild.
Bats ride the storm.
This discovery was made somewhat by chance. It all started with an observation: Unlike migratory birds, bats do not gain weight in preparation for migrationexplains Dechmann. They need to refuel every night, which means their migration is zigzagging rather than in a straight line. ».
By studying flight patterns to better understand them, the team discovered that there was an explosion in the number of simultaneous departures on certain days. ” We wanted to understand how all these bats reacted to these nights. », says the lead author of the study, Edward Herm.
[#Biodiversité] A common noctole bat has a lifespan of two years https://t.co/kPnJsbj2aH pic.twitter.com/s8FUFX7zmc
— Paris Saclay (@ParisSaclay) January 15, 2017
Consequently, bats emerge at night when atmospheric pressure is low and temperatures are high. In other words, the bats left before the storm arrived. Relying on warm tailwinds », explains Harm. The tags, which measure activity levels, also show that the bats used less energy to fly on those warm, windy nights, confirming that they benefit from the help from the storms. .
The researchers also discovered that common noctules are capable of flying up to 400 km in one night.
Better to keep the bats safe.
But the implications of these findings go beyond providing biological insight into this little-studied behavior. “ Further studies like this will pave the way for a system capable of predicting bat migration. Describes the pyramid.. We can be guardians of bats, helping wind farms shut down their turbines at night when they pass through them. ».
in france,SpeciesSpecies According to the LPO, there is an alarming decline, with a loss of around 57% since 2006.
