Most Popular Posts
Categories
- Biodiversity (58)
- Climate change (130)
- Community-based conservation (78)
- Economics and conservation (126)
- Endangered species (186)
- Fresh water (41)
- Habitat (192)
- Invasive species (82)
- Marine (100)
- Monitoring (218)
- Restoration (138)
- Socio-political issues (145)
- Tools and technology (91)
Archives
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
Nov
28
2007
Extreme climate events take flying-foxes to the brink
January 13 and 14, 2002 must have been bleak days for Justin Welbergen and colleagues, as they collected the corpses of thousands of Australian fruit bats whose deaths they had documented the day before. The bats, mainly grey-headed Pteropus poliocephalus and black flying-foxes P. alecto had succumbed to an extreme heat wave, with the temperature at Dallis Park, New South Wales, topping 42.9°C – that’s 107.6°F. Writing in Proc. Royal Soc. B this week, Cambridge University’s Welbergen presents an analysis of the tragic die-off – one of at least nineteen to have taken place since 1994. In mixed colonies, P. alecto fared worse than P. poliocephalus: juveniles and adult females were far less tolerant of the searing heat than males. Extreme climatic events are expected to become more common, so monitoring roosts when the mercury is set to soar above the critical mark sounds like a good idea. That way, falling off the perch might not mean the end. Source: Welbergen JA, Klose SM, Markus N & Eby P (2007) Climate change and the effects of temperature extremes on Australian flying-foxes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1385
Image © Jan Rihak
Filed Under Climate change, Endangered species, Monitoring |
Email This Post