Feeding movement behavior of two echolocating bat species at landscape scale in Japan

Insectivorous bats use echolocation to fly and forage. Because they forage while flying at night, it is extremely difficult to directly observe the details of their movement patterns on a large spatial scale. However, recent developments in biologging techniques have made it possible to understand the movement patterns of even small bats. Clarifying the patterns of foraging movement patterns provides fundamental insights into the solution of various social problems surrounding bats. For example, measures to reduce collisions with wind power facilities and the construction of models for the spread of zoonotic diseases. Our research group has been using biologging techniques since around 2015 to elucidate the landscape scale foraging movement routes of multiple insectivorous bat species with different echolocation types and wing morphologies. In this presentation, we will introduce the results obtained so far on the foraging movement patterns of the Japanese greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus nippon, which uses FM/CF/FM-type sounds, and the birdlike noctule Nyctalus aviator, which uses FM/QCF-type sounds. Our results revealed that the foraging movement patterns of the two species are significantly different, as expected from the ecomorphological traits.