Who's for dinner? Bird prey diversity and choice in the great evening bat, Ia io.

ABSTRACT: The mysterious predator-prey interaction between bats and nocturnally migrating birds is a very rare and incredible process in natural ecosystems. So far only three avivorous bat species, including two noctule bats (Nyctalus lasiopterus and Nyctalus aviator) and the great evening bat (Ia io), are known to regularly prey on songbirds during nocturnal avian migration. The information related to the diversity and the characteristics of the birds as prey and the hunting strategy in both species of noctule bats are already clear. However, the diversity of bird prey in the diet of I. io as confirmed by molecular identification remains unknown. Moreover, like hunting insects, it remains unclear whether the avivorous bats opportunistically prey on birds. Here, we used D

SUBMITTER: Gong L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8258197 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature