Feeding ecology of the bat Eptesicus fuscus: ‘preferred’ prey abundance as one factor influencing prey selection and diet breadth

Abstract

Factors influencing prey selection by insectivorous bats are poorly understood but may be related to interspecific differences in echolocation call structure. The diet of Eptesicus fuscus was compared with prey abundance across a foraging season to examine prey selection by a bat species which has an echolocation call dominated by a frequency-modulated (FM) component. Guano samples were collected on 18 occasions from a single colony between May and September 2000. Abundance of aerial insects was measured using a black-light trap on nights when guano was collected. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses that E. fuscus: (1) does not take prey in proportion to their relative abundance; (2) forages preferentially for beetles in a manner predicted by foraging theory. Relative abundance (= proportion in relation to other prey types) of prey in trap samples was not a good predictor of prey in the diet across periods or within periods, which suggests selective foraging. Beetles (42–96% of the diet by per cent volume) were consistently eaten in higher proportions than their relative abundance. The absolute abundance of beetles (= abundance irrespective of the abundance of other prey types) explained 60% of the variation in beetle use with more beetles eaten when they were abundant. Absolute beetle abundance explained 66%, 53% and 47% of the variation in the use of three other prey types, with more of these prey eaten when beetle abundance was low. Finally, absolute beetle abundance explained 60% of the variation in diet breadth, which increased when beetle abundance was low. Our results agree with predictions derived from foraging theory and support the hypothesis that E. fuscus forages selectively for beetles, consuming a wider variety of prey when beetle abundance is low. These results are similar to those found for the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum which has an echolocation call dominated by a constant-frequency (CF) component, and suggest that some FM bats may discriminate among prey taxa, at least at the ordinal level.