Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Do social networks of female northern long-eared bats vary with reproductive period and age?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social structure, which is a function of the patterns of interactions among individuals, is particularly variable in fission–fusion societies. The underlying factors that drive this variation are poorly understood. Female northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) live in fission–fusion societies where females form preferred associations within groups that vary daily in size and composition as individuals switch roosts. The goal of our study was to test the predictions that preferred associations and social networks of female northern long-eared bats vary with reproductive period and age. We also tested the prediction that preferred relationships persist across years despite movements from summer roosts to winter hibernacula. Network analyses revealed that during gestation, females roosted in smaller groups where they roosted more regularly with fewer individuals than during lactation. This variation may reflect different social strategies to mediate higher energetic costs during lactation. Females of all ages roosted more often with younger individuals, which in turn had more direct and indirect associations than all other age classes. Younger individuals may play a role in maintaining connections between individuals, perhaps as a result of younger individuals being more exploratory. Temporal analyses suggested that relationships can persist for years as some pairs roosted together for multiple summers. We suggest that the dynamic nature of fission–fusion societies is associated with individual strategies to increase fitness relative to individual characteristics, in this case reproductive condition and age.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aldridge HDJN, Brigham RM (1988) Load carrying and maneuverability in an insectivorous bat: a test f the 5% “rule” of radio-telemetry. J Mammal 69:379–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander RD (1974) The evolution of social behavior. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 5:325–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anthony ELP (1988) Age determination in bats. In: Kunz TH (ed) Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, pp 47–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Archie EA, Moss CJ, Alberts SC (2006) The ties that bind: genetic relatedness predicts the fission and fusion of social groups in wild African elephants. Proc R Soc B 273:513–522

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Archie EA, Maldonado JE, Hollister-Smith JA, Poole JH, Moss CJ, Fleischer RC, Alberts SC (2008) Fine-scale population genetic structure in a fission–fusion society. Mol Ecol 17:2666–2679

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold BD (2007) Population structure and sex-biased dispersal in the forest dwelling Vespertilionid bat, Myotis septentrionalis. Am Midl Nat 157:374–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aureli F, Schaffner CM, Boesch C, Bearder SK, Call J, Chapman CA, Connor R, Di Fiore A, Dunbar RIM, Henzi SP, Holekamp K, Korstjens AH, Layton R, Lee P, Lehmann J, Manson JH, Ramos-Fernandez G, Strier KB, Van Schaik CP (2008) Fission–fusion dynamics new research frameworks. Curr Anthropol 49:627–654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barclay RMR, Brigham RM (2001) Year-to-year reuse of tree-roosts by California bats (Myotis californicus) in southern British Columbia. Am Midl Nat 146:80–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barclay RMR, Harder LD (2003) Life histories of bats: life in the slow lane. In: Kunz TH, Fenton MB (eds) Bat ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 209–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Bejder L, Fletcher D, Bräger S (1998) A method for testing association patterns of social animals. Anim Behav 56:719–725

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco JC, Cortes Y (2007) Dispersal patterns, social structure and mortality of wolves living in agricultural habitats in Spain. J Zool (Lond) 273:114–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blehert DS, Hicks AC, Behr M, Meteyer CU, Berlowski-Zier BM, Buckles EL, Coleman JTH, Darling SR, Gargas A, Niver R, Okoniewski JC, Rudd RJ, Stone WB (2009) Bat white-nose syndrome: an emerging fungal pathogen? Science 323:227–227

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boccaletti S, Latora V, Moreno Y, Chavez M, Hwang DU (2006) Complex networks: structure and dynamics. Phys Rep 424:175–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP (2002) Netdraw: Network Visualization Softwares. Analytic Technologies, Harvard

  • Bourjade M, Moulinot M, Richard-Yris MA, Hausberger M (2008) Could adults be used to improve social skills of young horses, Equus caballus? Dev Psychobiol 50:408–417

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury JW (1977) Social organization and communication. In: Wimsatt WA (ed) Biology of bats, vol. 3. Academic Press, New York, pp 1–72

  • Brandes U (2001) A faster algorithm for betweenness centrality. J Math Sociol 25:163–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broders HG, Forbes GJ (2004) Interspecific and intersexual variation in roost-site selection of northern long-eared and little brown bats in the greater Fundy National Park ecosystem. J Wildl Manage 68:602–610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham K, Anderson D (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cairns SJ, Schwager SJ (1987) A comparison of association indexes. Anim Behav 35:1454–1469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman CA, Rothman JM (2009) Within-species differences in primate social structure: evolution of plasticity and phylogenetic constraints. Primates 50:12–22

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chaverri G, Quiros OE, Gamba-Rios M, Kunz TH (2007) Ecological correlates of roost fidelity in the tent-making bat Artibeus watsoni. Ethology 113:598–605

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christian JJ (1956) The natural history of a summer aggregation of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus. Am Midl Nat 55:66–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cockburn A, Sims RA, Osmond HL, Green DJ, Double MC, Mulder RA (2008) Can we measure the benefits of help in cooperatively breeding birds: the case of superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus? J Anim Ecol 77:430–438

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connor RC, Wells RS, Mann J, Read AJ (2000) The bottlenose dolphin. Social relationships in a fission–fusion society. In: Mann J, Connor RC, Tyack PL, Whitehead H (eds) Cetacean societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 91–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Conradt L, Roper TJ (2000) Activity synchrony and social cohesion: a fission–fusion model. Proc R Soc Lond B 267:2213–2218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Conradt L, Roper TJ (2005) Consensus decision making in animals. Trends Ecol Evol 20:449–456

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Couzin ID (2006) Behavioral ecology: social organization in fission–fusion societies. Curr Biol 16:R169–R171

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, James R, Krause J (2008) Exploring animal social networks. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross PC, Lloyd-Smith JO, Getz WM (2005) Disentangling association patterns in fission–fusion societies using African buffalo as an example. Anim Behav 69:499–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis RB, Herreid CF, Short HL (1962) Mexican free-tailed bats in Texas. Ecol Monogr 32:311–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durant SM (2000) Predator avoidance, breeding experience and reproductive success in endangered cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus. Anim Behav 60:121–130

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eales LA, Bullock DJ, Slater PJB (1988) Shared nursing in captive pipistrelles (Pipistrellus pipistrellus). J Zool 216:584–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Entwistle AC, Racey PA, Speakman JR (2000) Social and population structure of a gleaning bat, Plecotus auritus. J Zool 252:11–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans AR, Sanson GD (2005) Correspondence between tooth shape and dietary biomechanical properties in insectivorous Microchiropterans. Evol Ecol Res 7:453–478

    Google Scholar 

  • Flack JC, Girvan M, de Waal FBM, Krakauer DC (2006) Policing stabilizes construction of social niches in primates. Nature 439:426–429

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming TH, Eby P (2003) Ecology of bat migration. In: Kunz TH, Fenton MB (eds) Bat ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 156–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortuna MA, Popa-Lisseanu G, Ibanez C, Bascompte J (2009) The roosting spatial network of a bird-predator bat. Ecology 90:934–944

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foster RW, Kurta A (1999) Roosting ecology of the northern bat (Myotis septentrionalis) and comparisons with the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis). J Mammal 80:659–672

    Google Scholar 

  • Galef BG, Laland KN (2005) Social learning in animals: empirical studies and theoretical models. Bioscience 55:489–499

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garroway CJ, Broders HG (2007) Nonrandom association patterns at northern long-eared bat maternity roosts. Can J Zool/Rev Can Zool 85:956–964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garroway CJ, Broders HG (2008) Day roost characteristics of northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) in relation to female reproductive status. Ecoscience 15:89–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons JW, Andrews KM (2004) Pit tagging: simple technology at its best. Bioscience 54:447–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton WD (1964a) Genetical evolution of social behaviour I. J Theor Biol 7:1–16

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton WD (1964b) Genetical evolution of social behaviour II. J Theor Biol 7:17–52

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hinde RA (1976) Interactions, relationships and social structure. Man 11:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holroyd SL (1993) Influences of some extrinsic and intrinsic factors on reproduction by big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, in southeasterrn Alberta. MSc. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB

  • James R, Croft DP, Krause J (2009) Potential banana skins in animal social network analysis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63:989–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones G, Ransome RD (1993) Echolocation calls of bats are influenced by maternal effects and change over a lifetime. Proc R Soc Lond B 252:125–128

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G (2008) Causes and consequences of sociality in bats. Bioscience 58:737–746

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, König B (1999) Fission, fusion and nonrandom associations in female Bechstein's bats (Myotis bechsteinii). Behaviour 136:1187–1202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Reckardt K (2003) Information transfer about roosts in female Bechstein's bats: an experimental field study. Proc R Soc Lond B 270:511–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Mayer F, König B (2000) Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) reveals that female Bechstein's bats live in closed societies. Mol Ecol 9:793–800

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Mayer F, Petit E (2002) Extreme sex-biased dispersal in the communally breeding, nonmigratory Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii). Mol Ecol 11:1491–1498

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerth G, Almasi B, Ribi N, Thiel D, Lüpold S (2003) Social interactions among wild female Bechstein's bats (Myotis bechsteinii) living in a maternity colony. Acta Ethol 5:107–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komdeur J (2006) Variation in individual investment strategies among social animals. Ethology 112:729–747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Croft DP, James R (2007) Social network theory in the behavioural sciences: potential applications. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:15–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Lusseau D, James R (2009) Animal social networks: an introduction. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63:967–973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krützen M, Mann J, Heithaus MR, Connor RC, Bejder L, Sherwin WB (2005) Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:8939–8943

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kunz TH, Kurta A (1988) Capture methods and holding devices. In: Kunz TH (ed) Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, pp 1–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunz TH, Lumsden LF (2003) Ecology of cavity and foliage roosting bats. In: Kunz TH, Fenton MB (eds) Bat ecology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 3–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacki MJ, Schwierjohann JH (2001) Day-roost characteristics of northern bats in mixed mesophytic forest. J Wildl Manage 65:482–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann J, Boesch C (2004) To fission or to fusion: effects of community size on wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) social organisation. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:207–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemasson A, Gautier JP, Hausberger M (2005) A brief note on the effects of the removal of individuals on social behaviour in a captive group of Campbell's monkeys (Cercopithecus campbelli campbelli): a case study. Appl Anim Behav Sci 91:289–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis SE (1995) Roost fidelity of bats: a review. J Mammal 76:481–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusseau D, Newman MEJ (2004) Identifying the role that animals play in their social networks. Proc R Soc B (Suppl) 271:S477–S481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusseau D, Wilson B, Hammond PS (2006) Quantifying the influence of sociality on population structure in bottlenose dolphins. J Animal Ecol 75:14–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusseau D, Whitehead H, Gero S (2008) Incorporating uncertainty into the study of animal social networks. Anim Behav 75:1809–1815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manly BFJ (1995) A note on the analysis of species co-occurrences. Ecology 76:1109–1115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McComb K, Moss C, Durant SM, Baker L, Sayialel S (2001) Matriarchs as repositories of social knowledge in African elephants. Science 292:491–494

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken GF (1984) Communal nursing in Mexican free-tailed bat maternity colonies. Science 223:1090–1091

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken GF, Wilkinson GS (2000) Bat mating systems. In: Crichton EG, Krutzsch PH (eds) Reproductive biology of bats. Academic, San Diego, pp 321–362

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Metheny JD, Kalcounis-Rueppell MC, Bondo KJ, Brigham RM (2008a) A genetic analysis of group movement in an isolated population of tree-roosting bats. Proc R Soc B 275:2265–2272

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Metheny JD, Kalcounis-Rueppell MC, Willis CKR, Kolar KA, Brigham RM (2008b) Genetic relationships between roost-mates in a fission–fusion society of tree-roosting big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:1043–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miklós I, Podani J (2004) Randomization of presence-absence matrices: comments and new algorithms. Ecology 85:86–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O'Donnell CFJ (2000) Cryptic local populations in a temperate rainforest bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus in New Zealand. Anim Cons 3:287–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O'Donnell CFJ (2002) Timing of breeding, productivity and survival of long-tailed bats Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in cold-temperate rainforest in New Zealand. J Zool 257:311–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohtsuki H, Hauert C, Lieberman E, Nowak MA (2006) A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks. Nature 441:502–505

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Page RA, Ryan MJ (2006) Social transmission of novel foraging behavior in bats: frog calls and their referents. Curr Biol 16:1201–1205

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Perry AE, Herreid CF II (1969) Comparison of the tooth-wear and lens-weight methods of age determination in the guano bat, Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana. J Mammal 50:357–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podlutsky AJ, Khritankov AM, Ovodov ND, Austad SN (2005) A new field record for bat longevity. J Gerontol A 60:1366–1368

    Google Scholar 

  • Popa-Lisseanu AG, Bontadina F, Mora O, Ibanez C (2008) Highly structured fission–fusion societies in an aerial-hawking, carnivorous bat. Anim Behav 75:471–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Racey PA (1973) Environmental factors affecting the length of gestation in heterothermic bats. J Reprod Fert 19:175–189

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Racey PA (1982) Ecology of bat reproduction. In: Kunz TH (ed) Ecology of bats. Plenum, New York, pp 57–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Racey PA (1988) Reproductive assessment in bats. In: Kunz TH (ed) Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, pp 31–45

    Google Scholar 

  • Racey PA, Entwistle AE (2000) Life history and reproductive strategies of bats. In: Crighton EG, Krutzsch PH (eds) Reproductive biology of bats. Academic, New York, pp 363–414

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Racey PA, Swift SM (1981) Variations in gestation length in a colony of pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) from year to year. J Reprod Fertil 61:123–129

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe JM, ter Hofstede HM (2005) Roosts as information centres: social learning of food preferences in bats. Biol Lett 1:72–74

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes M (2007) Roost fidelity and fission–fusion dynamics of white-striped free-tailed bats (Tadarida australis). J Mammal 88:1252–1260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruckstuhl KE, Neuhaus P (2002) Sexual segregation in ungulates: a comparative test of three hypotheses. Biol Rev 77:77–96

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sasse DB, Perkins PJ (1996) Summer roosting ecology of northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis) in the white mountain national forest. In: Barclay RMR, Brigham RM (eds) Bats and forests symposium. Ministry of Forests, Victoria, BC, pp 91–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Sendor T, Simon M (2003) Population dynamics of the pipistrelle bat: effects of sex, age and winter weather on seasonal survival. J Anim Ecol 72:308–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silk JB (2007) The adaptive value of sociality in mammalian groups. Phil Trans R Soc B 362:539–559

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Speakman JR (2008) The physiological costs of reproduction in small mammals. Phil Trans R Soc B 363:375–398

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trivers RL (1971) Evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quart Rev Biol 46:35–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuttle MD, Stevenson D (1982) Growth and survival of bats. In: Kunz TH (ed) Ecology of bats. Plenum, New York, pp 105–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Veilleux JP, Veilleux SL (2004) Intra-annual and interannual fidelity to summer roost areas by female eastern pipistrelles, Pipistrellus subflavus. Am Midl Nat 152:196–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vicente J, Delahay RJ, Walker NJ, Cheeseman CL (2007) Social organization and movement influence the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in an undisturbed high-density badger Meles meles population. J Anim Ecol 76:348–360

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vonhof MJ, Whitehead H, Fenton MB (2004) Analysis of Spix's disc-winged bat association patterns and roosting home ranges reveal a novel social structure among bats. Anim Behav 68:507–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wey T, Blumstein DT, Shen W, Jordan F (2008) Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality. Anim Behav 75:333–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (1995) Investigating structure and temporal scale in social organizations using identified individuals. Behav Ecol 6:199–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (1997) Analysing animal social structure. Anim Behav 53:1053–1067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (1999) Testing association patterns of social animals. Anim Behav 57:F26–F29

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (2003) Sperm whales: social evolution in the ocean. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (2007) Selection of models of lagged identification rates and lagged association rates using AIC and QAIC. Commun Stat-Simul Comput 36:1233–1246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (2008a) Socprog 2.3. Programs for the analysis of animal social structure. Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS

  • Whitehead H (2008b) Analyzing animal societies: quantitative methods for vertebrate social analysis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H (2008c) Precision and power in the analysis of social structure using associations. Anim Behav 75:1093–1099

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H, Dufault S (1999) Techniques for analyzing vertebrate social structure using identified individuals: review and recommendations. Adv Stud Behav 28:33–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead H, Bejder L, Ottensmeyer AC (2005) Testing association patterns: issues arising and extensions. Anim Behav 69:e1–e6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilde CJ, Knight CR, Racey PA (1999) Influence of torpor on milk protein composition and secretion in lactating bats. J Exp Zool 284:35–41

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1984) Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire bat. Nature 308:181–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1985) The social organization of the common vampire bat. I. Pattern and cause of association. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 17:111–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1986) Social grooming in the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus. Anim Behav 34:1880–1889

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1987) Altruism and co-operation in bats. In: Fenton MB, Racey PA, Rayner JMV (eds) Recent advances in the study of bats. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 299–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1992a) Communal nursing in the evening bat, Nycticeius humeralis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 31:225–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1992b) Information-transfer at evening bat colonies. Anim Behav 44:501–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS (1995) Information transfer in bats. Symp Zool Soc Lond 67:345–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson GS, Boughman JW (1998) Social calls coordinate foraging in greater spear-nosed bats. Anim Behav 55:337–350

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR (2006) Daily heterothermy in temperate bats using natural roosts. In: Kunz TH, Zubaid A, McCracken GF (eds) Functional ecology and evolutionary ecology of bats. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 38–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM (2004) Roost switching, roost sharing and social cohesion: forest-dwelling big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus, conform to the fission–fusion model. Anim Behav 68:495–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM (2007) Social thermoregulation exerts more influence than microclimate on forest roost preferences by a cavity-dwelling bat. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:97–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis CKR, Brigham RM, Geiser F (2006) Deep, prolonged torpor by pregnant, free-ranging bats. Naturwissenschaften 93:80–83

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass

  • Wittemyer G, Douglas-Hamilton I, Getz WM (2005) The socioecology of elephants: analysis of the processes creating multitiered social structures. Anim Behav 69:1357–1371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf JBW, Kauermann G, Trillmich F (2005) Males in the shade: habitat use and sexual segregation in the Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59:293–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf JBW, Mawdsley D, Trillmich F, James R (2007) Social structure in a colonial mammal: unraveling hidden structural layers and their foundations by network analysis. Anim Behav 74:1293–1302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu F, Huberman BA, Adamic LA, Tyler JR (2004) Information flow in social groups. Physica A 337:327–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jessica Corkum, Luke Dodd, Jenny Dufreche, Taiadjana Fortuna, Erin Hennessey, and Florent Valetti for assistance in the field. We also thank Hal Whitehead, David Lusseau, and Wade Blanchard for useful discussion of analyses. Jeff Bowman, Andrew Horn, Robert Ronconi, and three anonymous reviewers provided comments on the manuscript. The research was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarship D, Dalhousie University Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship, and Patrick F. Lett Graduate Student Assistance Bursary to KJP. The research was also supported by NSERC Discovery Grants to MLL and HGB. Funding was also provided by the Nova Scotia Species at Risk Conservation Fund and Nova Scotia Habitat Conservation Fund. Considerable in-kind support was provided by the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.

Statement of integrity of research and reporting

This study was conducted according to the standards of the Dalhousie University Committee on Laboratory Animals, the Canadian Council on Animal Care, and the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Act. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 4J1

    Krista J. Patriquin & Marty L. Leonard

  2. Department of Biology, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 3C3

    Hugh G. Broders

  3. Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada, K9J 7B8

    Colin J. Garroway

Authors
  1. Krista J. Patriquin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marty L. Leonard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hugh G. Broders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Colin J. Garroway
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krista J. Patriquin.

Additional information

Communicated by G. Jones

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Patriquin, K.J., Leonard, M.L., Broders, H.G. et al. Do social networks of female northern long-eared bats vary with reproductive period and age?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 899–913 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0905-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0905-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation