Navigation Links
Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds

It was until now believed that nocturnally migrating songbirds, while venturing into the unfamiliar night sky for accomplishing their long, challenging trans-continental migrations, could at least release anti-predator vigilance thanks to the concealment of darkness. A new study by Spanish and Swiss scientists ?published this week in PLoS ONE ?shows that migration at night is not without predation risk for passerines.

A unique creature is indeed capable of exploiting the formidable food source represented by the billions of high-flying, Eurasian songbirds which engage twice a year into long-distance, north-south or south-north nocturnal movements. The danger seems especially acute where birds' flight routes converge around the Mediterranean basin, such as the Iberian Peninsula. This newly recognized hazard adds to the numerous obstacles that sea and desert crossings already represent for fragile migratory passerines. Actually, the newly uncovered danger comes from the deep black sky, in the form of a 45 cm wing-spanned aerial-hawking mammal, equipped with sharp canines and an efficient radar system which remains probably largely inaudible to songbirds.

In 2001, Carlos Ibáñez and his colleagues at the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain, suggested that the giant noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), a rare European species occurring principally in the Mediterranean, may feed to a large extent on birds (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98, 9700-9702). They had found numerous feathers in the faeces of Spanish giant noctules, with occurrence peaks in the diet in spring and autumn, i.e. during main songbirds' seasonal migration. This contrasted strikingly with food composition of other European bat species which all feed exclusively on invertebrates!

This finding brought about a heated controversy among bat scientists. Some claimed that eating feathers was no proof of preying upon birds: they suggested that giant noctule
'"/>

Source:Public Library of Science


Page: 1 2 3 4

Related biology news :

1. New tool reveals secrets of migrating cells
2. E. coli bacteria migrating between humans, chimps in Ugandan park
3. Ancient amphibians evolved a bite before migrating to dry land
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Bats prey nocturnally migrating songbirds

(Date:6/18/2013)... 18, 2013: The Association for Molecular Pathology is proud ... Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) on July 1, 2013. ... June 3, 2013. , The 26 constituent societies ... a common vision for the advancement of research and ... translational research is more important now than ever," said ...
(Date:6/18/2013)... estimated that between 5% and 10% of breast and ... say that these tumours are attributable to inherited mutations ... BRCA2. In patients with these mutations, PARP inhibitors, which ... that make them a new option for personalised cancer ... studies indicate that a fraction of these patients generate ...
(Date:6/18/2013)... A team of internationally recognized feline experts including veterinarians ... the University of Lincoln, U.K. and Dr Ilona Rodan, ... by the International Society of Feline Medicine (ISFM) and ... guidelines for veterinarians, owners and those working with cats ... domestic cat. The new guidelines appear in the ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):An article in 'Cell' reveals a new resistance mechanism to chemotherapy in breast and ovarian cancer 2Feline behavior experts release guidelines to improve the welfare of cats 2
... D.C. - U.S Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced ... to 57 innovative research projects - using computer simulations ... be impossible or impractical in the natural world. Utilizing ... to 135,000 quad-core laptops, the research could, for example, ...
... a unique study involving young boa constrictors, University of Cincinnati ... of vertical rope to examine how they might move around ... in their natural habitat. The findings by Greg Byrnes, a ... sciences, and Bruce C. Jayne, a UC professor of biology, ...
... accepted at the climate conference in Cancun, several REDD-related ... The methods to be developed in the ReCover ... optical and radar satellite imagery with a sample of ... very high resolution imagery, with an accuracy reaching to ...
Cached Biology News:Could 135,000 laptops help solve the energy challenge? 2Could 135,000 laptops help solve the energy challenge? 3Could 135,000 laptops help solve the energy challenge? 4Snakes on a rope: Researchers take a unique look at the climbing abilities of boa constrictors 2
(Date:6/18/2013)... June 18, 2013 Nasseo, Inc. today ... Challenge Winner out of hundreds of applicants by the ... Arizona Innovation Challenge . The Arizona Innovation Challenge ... a technology commercialization challenge, granting a financial award to ... technology ventures. Nasseo’s state of the art dental and ...
(Date:6/18/2013)... Delaware , June 18, 2013 ... announce the release of the HELM biomolecular representation ... open source MIT licence. HELM (Hierarchical ... a wide range of biomolecules (e.g. proteins, nucleotides, ... existing small-molecule and sequence-based informatics methodologies impractical or ...
(Date:6/18/2013)... , June 18, 2013 ... investment research firm, announces the initiation of ... French biopharmaceutical company developing and marketing products ... indications.      (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130417/608168) ... report examining the investment merits of BioAlliance ...
(Date:6/18/2013)... The "Bioinformatics Market By Sector (Molecular Medicine, Agriculture, Research & ... Services) & Application (Genomics, Proteomics & Drug Design) - Global Forecasts to ... Opportunities in North America , ... of World. Browse , 120 ... 364 Pages and an in-depth Table of ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Nasseo Named 2013 Innovation Challenge Winner by Arizona Commerce Authority 2The Pistoia Alliance Releases HELM Biomolecular Representation Standard Open Source Tools 2Edison Expands French Healthcare Sector Coverage With Initiation of Coverage on BioAlliance Pharma 2Edison Expands French Healthcare Sector Coverage With Initiation of Coverage on BioAlliance Pharma 3Bioinformatics Market Worth $7.5 Billion by 2017 2Bioinformatics Market Worth $7.5 Billion by 2017 3
... Madison, Wis. - Probing a class of enzymes routinely ... team of Wisconsin scientists has found a new way to ... and antibiotics. , ,Writing this week (Sept. 1) in the ... Thorson, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University ...
... - Ethanol has become the new darling ... are being embraced by investors, including private equity firms, ... Public ethanol companies recently have seen trading multiples in ... ethanol production, 35x trailing twelve months' EBITDA, and 1,000x ...
... it comes to attracting venture capital, Wisconsin has always defined ... the East and West coasts have basically stuck close to ... Heartland, with the exception of a few states such as ... signs that a few flights ferrying venture capitalists have actually ...
Cached Biology Technology:UW finds new path to anti-cancer agents 2UW finds new path to anti-cancer agents 3Ethanol producers are at a crossroads 2Ethanol producers are at a crossroads 3Ethanol producers are at a crossroads 4Ethanol producers are at a crossroads 5Ethanol producers are at a crossroads 6That blip on the national venture capital radar screen may be Wisconsin 2That blip on the national venture capital radar screen may be Wisconsin 3
Recombinant Feline IL-12/IL-23 p40 (C-Terminus), CF...
HybriWell™ hybridization sealing system, 20 mm diameter chamber, 0.15 mm deep *set of 100*...
dithiothreitol (DTT) Reactive Dyes and Chemicals Thiol-Reactive Dyes, Haptens and Quenchers Reducing Agents...
... N. Fernandez and G. Butcher (1998). ... subject of much research in the immunology ... structure of MHC proteins and in their ... are now faced with the prospect of ...
Biology Products: