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Monday, December 14, 2020

Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic











RIO DE JANEIRO — Night began to fall in Rio de Janeiro’s Pedra Branca state park as four Brazilian scientists switched on their flashlights to traipse along a narrow trail of mud through dense rainforest. The researchers were on a mission: capture bats and help prevent the next global pandemic
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© Provided by The Canadian Press BATS IN BAGS

A few meters ahead, nearly invisible in the darkness, a bat made high-pitched squeaks as it strained its wings against the thin nylon net that had ensnared it. One of the researchers removed the bat, which used its pointed teeth to bite her gloved fingers.

The November nighttime outing was part of a project at Brazil’s state-run Fiocruz Institute to collect and study viruses present in wild animals — including bats, which many scientists believe were linked to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The goal now is to identify other viruses that may be highly contagious and lethal in humans, and to use that information to devise plans to stop them from ever infecting people — to forestall the next potential global disease outbreak before it gets started.

In a highly connected world, an outbreak in one place endangers the entire globe, just as the coronavirus did. And the Brazilian team is just one among many worldwide racing to minimize the risk of a second pandemic this century.

To some, it might seem too soon to contemplate the next global outbreak, with the world still grappling with the devastating fallout of the ongoing one. But scientists say it's highly like that, without savvy intervention, another novel virus will jump from animal to human host and find the conditions to spread like wildfire.

As this pandemic has shown, modern transport can disperse the pathogen to all corners of the globe in a matter of hours and spread easily in densely populated cities.

It’s not a question of if, but of when, according to Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an infectious diseases expert at Christian Medical College at Vellore in southern India.

She pointed to previous research that found India was among the most likely places in the world for such a “spillover” event to occur, due to population density and increasing human and livestock incursion into its dense tropical forests teeming with wildlife.

It's no coincidence that many scientists are focusing attention on the world’s only flying mammals — bats.

Bats are thought to be the original or intermediary hosts for multiple viruses that have spawned recent epidemics, including COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Nipah virus, Hendra virus and Marburg virus. A 2019 study found that of viruses originating from the five most common mammalian sources — primates, rodents, carnivores, ungulates and bats — those from bats are the most virulent in humans.

Bats are a diverse group, with more than 1,400 species flitting across every continent except Antarctica. But what many have in common are adaptations that allow them to carry viruses that are deadly in humans and livestock while exhibiting minimal symptoms themselves — meaning they are able travel and shed those viruses, instead of being quickly hobbled.

“The secret is that bats have unusual immune systems, and that’s related to their ability to fly,” said Raina Plowright, an epidemiologist who studies bats at Montana State University.

To get off the ground and sustain flight requires an incredible amount of energy, with bats’ metabolic rate increasing sixteen-fold, Plowright said. “You’d expect them to get cell damage from all that metabolic exertion,” she said.

But that doesn’t happen. Instead, bats are remarkably resilient, with many species living more than 30 years — highly unusual for such small mammals.

Plowright and other bat scientists believe evolutionary tweaks that help bats recover from the stress of flying also give them extra protection against pathogens.

“Bats seem to have evolved a collateral benefit of flight — resistance to deal with some of the nastiest viruses known to science,” said Arinjay Banerjee, a virologist at McMaster University in Canada.



While scientists are still untangling the mystery, two leading theories are that bats may have evolved what Banerjee called “an efficient DNA repair mechanism" or that their bodies may tightly regulate inflammation triggers and not overreact to viral infections.

Probing the secrets of bat immune systems may help scientists understand more about when bats do shed viruses, as well as providing hints for possible future medical treatment strategies, he said.

Bats and other animals that carry pathogens don’t innately pose a risk to humans — unless conditions are right for a spillover event. “The virus has to come out of the host for us to get infected,” said Cara Brook, a disease ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

The bad news: Increasing destruction and fragmentation of habitats worldwide — especially biodiverse areas like tropical forests — means “we are seeing higher rates of contact between wildlife and humans, creating more opportunities for spillover,” she said.

That’s why the Brazilian researchers chose Pedra Branca park. As one of the world’s largest forests within an urban area, it offers a constant interaction of wild animals with the thousands of humans and domestic animals in surrounding communities. The scientists are studying not just bats, but also small primates, wild cats and domestic cats in homes with confirmed COVID-19 cases.



Video: Scientists study bats to prevent next pandemic (The Canadian Press)

Scientists and governments would stand a better chance at containing future outbreaks if they had faster notice of when and where they begin, said Ian Mackay, a virologist at Australia’s University of Queensland.

“Ongoing, constant, nonstop surveillance,” along the lines of the flu labs set up by the World Health Organization across the globe, could help researchers be better prepared, he said. He also suggested that labs for virus discovery could regularly sample waste water or materials from hospitals.

In India, a National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being has been pending since 2018 and will likely be launched next year. Abi Tamim Vanak, a conservation scientist at Ashok Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment in Bengaluru, said that a core part of the plan is to set up 25 sentinel surveillance sites across the country in both rural and urban areas.

“They will be the first line of defence,” he said.

A varied patchwork of virus surveillance programs exists in several countries, but funding tends to wax and wane with the political climate and sense of urgency.

Among the most ambitious endeavours is the Global Virome Project, which aims to discover 500,000 new viruses over 10 years.

The U.S. Agency for International Development recently announced the launch of the $100 million STOP Spillover project, an effort led by scientists at Tufts University and including global partners to study zoonotic diseases in Africa and Asia.

One approach that won’t help, scientists say, is treating bats as the enemy – vilifying them, throwing stones or trying to burn them out of caves.

This spring, villagers in the Indian state of Rajasthan identified bat colonies in abandoned forts and palaces and killed hundreds with bats and sticks. They also sealed some crevices where the bats lived, effectively trapping them. In the Indian state of Karnataka, villagers cut down old trees where bats tend to roost.

Scientists say those those tactics are likely to backfire.

An investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Ugandan health authorities found that, after a mining operation attempted to exterminate bats from a cave in Uganda, the remaining bats exhibited higher infection levels of Marburg virus. This led to Uganda’s most severe outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever, caused by the virus, in 2012.

“Stress is a huge factor in upsetting the natural balance that bats have with their viruses — the more you stress bats, the more they shed viruses,” said Vikram Misra, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.

Although orders issued by Indian forest officials reiterating the complete ban on killing of wildlife and information campaigns to dispel myths were largely successful, convincing people not to attack bats means dispelling long-running cultural assumptions.

“People have a lot of misconceptions about bats. They’re nocturnal and look a little weird flying, and there’s a lot of literature and culture built around bats being scary,” said Hannah Kim Frank, a biologist at Tulane University. “But bats aren’t aggressive — and attacking bats doesn’t help control diseases.”

Bats also play vital roles in ecosystems: They consume insects like mosquitos, pollinate plants like agave, and disperse seeds.

“We actually need bats in the wild to consume insects that otherwise destroy cotton, corn and pecan harvests,” said Kristen Lear, an ecologist at Bat Conservational International.

A better approach to minimize disease risk, Frank said, is simply to minimize contact between wild bats and people and livestock.

She suggested that research on when bats migrate, and when new pups are born, could inform decisions about when people should avoid certain areas or keep their livestock penned up.

In North America, some scientists advocate restricting public access to caves where bats roost.

“Cave gating — bat-friendly gates, built with iron crossbars — can keep humans out and allow bats to move freely,” said Kate Langwig, an infectious disease ecologist at Virginia Tech. “If we leave the bats alone, and don’t try to hurt or exterminate them, they are going to be healthier."

Perhaps the most significant factor bringing bats into more frequent contact with people and domestic animals is the destruction of habitat, which forces bats to seek out new foraging and roosting grounds.

In Australia, widespread destruction of winter flowering eucalyptus trees that provide nectar for fruit bats — known locally as “flying foxes” — prompted the bats to move into areas closer to human settlements looking for alternate meals, including to a suburb of Brisbane called Hendra.

There, the bats transmitted a virus to horses, which in turn infected people. First identified in 1994 and named Hendra virus, it is highly lethal, killing 60% of people and 75% of horses infected.

A similar chain of events took place in Bangladesh, when habitat destruction drove fruit bats into cities, where they spread Nipah virus, which causes severe encephalitis in humans, by licking date palm sap from collection barrels.

To potentially reverse the movement of bats, Montana State University’s Plowright and colleagues based in Australia are studying restoring the bats’ original habitat.

“Every city in Australia is full of fruit bats that lost their winter habitats,” she said. “The idea is to plant new forests and make sure they are away from places with domestic animals and people.”

Whether the goal is to curb the spread of known zoonotic diseases or to reduce the risk of new ones emerging as pandemics, the strategy is the same: Reduce contact between humans and wild animals.

“In the history of COVID-19, bats have been more victim than victimizer,” said Ricardo Moratelli, co-ordinator of the Fiocruz project in Brazil. “Bats host a large number of parasites, and they deal with these parasites well. The problem is when human beings enter into contact with them.”

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Larson reported from Washington. Silva de Sousa reported from Rio de Janeiro. Ghosal reported from New Delhi.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, Aniruddha Ghosal And Marcelo Silva De Sousa, The Associated Press

Friday, July 10, 2020

Bats offer clues to treating COVID-19

To combat COVID-19, we need to regulate our immune systems to resemble those of bats


HOLY PANDEMIC BATMAN, IT'S NOT WUHAN FLU
IT'S BAT FLU


Bats carry many viruses, including COVID-19, without becoming ill. Biologists are studying the immune system of bats to find potential ways to 'mimic' that system in humans.

Date:July 9, 2020
Source:University of Rochester


Bats are often considered patient zero for many deadly viruses affecting humans, including Ebola, rabies, and, most recently, the SARS-CoV-2 strain of virus that causes coronavirus.

Although humans experience adverse symptoms when afflicted with these pathogens, bats are remarkably able to tolerate viruses, and, additionally, live much longer than similar-sized land mammals.

What are the secrets to their longevity and virus resistance?

According to researchers at the University of Rochester, bats' longevity and capacity to tolerate viruses may stem from their ability to control inflammation, which is a hallmark of disease and aging. In a review article published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the researchers -- including Rochester biology professors Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov -- outline the mechanisms underlying bats' unique abilities and how these mechanisms may hold clues to developing new treatments for diseases in humans.

Why are bats 'immune' to viruses?

The idea for the paper came about when Gorbunova and Seluanov, who are married, were in Singapore in March before COVID-19 travel bans began. When the virus started to spread and Singapore went into lockdown, they were quarantined at the home of their colleague Brian Kennedy, director of the Centre for Healthy Aging at the National University of Singapore and co-author of the paper.

The three scientists, all experts on longevity in mammals, got to talking about bats. SARS-CoV-2 is believed to have originated in bats before the virus was transmitted to humans. Although bats were carriers, they seemed to be unaffected by the virus. Another perplexing factor: generally, a species' lifespan correlates with its body mass; the smaller a species, the shorter its lifespan, and vice versa. Many bat species, however, have lifespans of 30 to 40 years, which is impressive for their size.

"We've been interested in longevity and disease resistance in bats for a while, but we didn't have the time to sit and think about it," says Gorbunova, the Doris Johns Cherry Professor of Biology at Rochester. "Being in quarantine gave us time to discuss this, and we realized there may be a very strong connection between bats' resistance to infectious diseases and their longevity. We also realized that bats can provide clues to human therapies used to fight diseases."

While there have been studies on the immune responses of bats and studies of bats' longevity, until their article, "no one has combined these two phenomena," Seluanov says.

Gorbunova and Seluanov have studied longevity and disease resistance in other exceptionally long-lived animals, including naked mole rats. One common theme in their research is that inflammation is a hallmark of the aging process and age-related diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular disease. Viruses, including COVID-19, are one factor that can trigger inflammation.

"With COVID-19, the inflammation goes haywire, and it may be the inflammatory response that is killing the patient, more so than the virus itself," Gorbunova says. "The human immune system works like that: once we get infected, our body sounds an alarm and we develop a fever and inflammation. The goal is to kill the virus and fight infection, but it can also be a detrimental response as our bodies overreact to the threat."

Not so with bats. Unlike humans, bats have developed specific mechanisms that reduce viral replication and also dampen the immune response to a virus. The result is a beneficial balance: their immune systems control viruses but at the same time, do not mount a strong inflammatory response.

Why did bats acquire a tolerance for diseases?

According to the researchers, there are several factors that may contribute to bats having evolved to fight viruses and live long lives. One factor may be driven by flight. Bats are the only mammals with the ability to fly, which requires that they adapt to rapid increases in body temperature, sudden surges in metabolism, and molecular damage. These adaptations may also assist in disease resistance.

Another factor may be their environment. Many species of bats live in large, dense colonies, and hang close together on cave ceilings or in trees. Those conditions are ideal for transmitting viruses and other pathogens.

"Bats are constantly exposed to viruses," Seluanov says. "They are always flying out and bringing back something new to the cave or nest, and they transfer the virus because they live in such close proximity to each other."

Because bats are constantly exposed to viruses, their immune systems are in a perpetual arms race with pathogens: a pathogen will enter the organism, the immune system will evolve a mechanism to combat the pathogen, the pathogen will evolve again, and so on.

"Usually the strongest driver of new traits in evolution is an arms race with pathogens," Gorbunova says. "Dealing with all of these viruses may be shaping bats' immunity and longevity."

Can humans develop the same disease resistance as bats?

That's not an invitation for humans to toss their masks and crowd together in restaurants and movie theaters. Evolution takes place over thousands of years, rather than a few months. It has only been in recent history that a majority of the human population has begun living in close proximity in cities. Or that technology has enabled rapid mobility and travel across continents and around the globe. While humans may be developing social habits that parallel those of bats, we have not yet evolved bats' sophisticated mechanisms to combat viruses as they emerge and swiftly spread.

"The consequences may be that our bodies experience more inflammation," Gorbunova says.

The researchers also recognize that aging seems to play an adverse role in humans' reactions to COVID-19.

"COVID-19 has such a different pathogenesis in older people," Gorbunova says. "Age is one of the most critical factors between living and dying. We have to treat aging as a whole process instead of just treating individual symptoms."

The researchers anticipate that studying bats' immune systems will provide new targets for human therapies to fight diseases and aging. For example, bats have mutated or completely eliminated several genes involved in inflammation; scientists can develop drugs to inhibit these genes in humans. Gorbunova and Seluanov hope to start a new research program at Rochester to work toward that goal.

"Humans have two possible strategies if we want to prevent inflammation, live longer, and avoid the deadly effects of diseases like COVID-19," Gorbunova says. "One would be to not be exposed to any viruses, but that's not practical. The second would be to regulate our immune system more like a bat."
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Journal Reference:
Vera Gorbunova, Andrei Seluanov, Brian K. Kennedy. The World Goes Bats: Living Longer and Tolerating Viruses. Cell Metabolism, 2020; 32 (1): 31 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2020.06.013
University of Rochester. "Bats offer clues to treating COVID-19: To combat COVID-19, we need to regulate our immune systems to resemble those of bats." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 July 2020. .


Bats harbor a gene swiped from an ancient Ebola-like virus -- here's how they may use it

Study suggests that a gene encoding a viral protein has been carefully preserved in Myotis bats for millions of years

Some 18 million years ago, an ancestor of mouse-eared bats 'stole' genetic material from an ancient virus related to Ebola. The swiped genetic sequence -- a gene called VP35 -- has remained largely intact in the bats despite the passage of time, a new study finds. The research also sheds light on the gene's possible function in bats, suggesting that it may play a role in regulating the immune system's response to threats.

Date:July 24, 2018
Source:University at Buffalo

Some 18 million years ago, an ancestor of mouse-eared bats "stole" genetic material from an ancient virus related to Ebola.

The swiped genetic sequence -- a gene called VP35 -- has remained largely intact in the bats despite the passage of time, with few changes since it was co-opted, a new study finds. The research also sheds light on the gene's possible function in bats, suggesting that it may play a role in regulating the immune system's response to threats.

"We're using a multidisciplinary approach to understand the evolution, structure and function of a viral gene co-opted by a mammal," says Derek J. Taylor, PhD, an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo. "From an evolutionary standpoint, it's rare that you can actually see a viral gene sequence like this that has remained intact in a mammalian host. Most of these things are eroded over time -- they get chopped up and shuffled around.

"But VP35 is highly conserved. It's similar in all the bats we looked at, and the bat versions remain very close to what you see in modern Ebola and Marburg viruses. This conservation suggests that the gene has been preserved for an important purpose."

In Ebola and Marburg viruses today, the VP35 gene carries instructions for building a protein that blocks the immune response of infected animals, enabling disease to take hold. When scientists used artificial synthesis to create bat VP35 proteins in the lab, these proteins also acted as immune suppressors, but they were less potent than viral VP35s.

The study answers some important questions, but many mysteries remain. For example: Is the VP35 gene active in mouse-eared bats? Do mouse-eared bats produce any VP35 proteins? If the bats do make VP35 proteins, why is this beneficial?

"Our study explores VP35 function, but further research is needed to determine the specific evolutionary benefit," Taylor says. "Why has this gene been conserved for so long? We don't quite know the answer, and it's possible that VP35 has some other function in bats that we haven't yet discovered."

The study will be published in the journal Cell Reports on July 24, with Megan R. Edwards, PhD, of Georgia State University as first author. The project was led by Christopher F. Basler, PhD, of Georgia State; Daisy W. Leung, PhD, of the Washington University School of Medicine; and Taylor, a professor of biological sciences in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

Similarities -- and differences -- in bats and in deadly viruses

To understand VP35's evolutionary history, the team compared VP35 sequences in 15 bat species from the genus Myotis (the mouse-eared bats), and used these sequences to reconstruct the archaic version of the gene that was first acquired by the bats' forebear some 18 million years ago.

This analysis showed that VP35 was strikingly similar across all 15 modern bats, modern Ebola and Marburg viruses, and the reconstructed ancestral gene. In other words: VP35 has changed very little in viruses and mouse-eared bats in the last 18 million years. Bolstering this conclusion, researchers discovered that the structure of a Myotis VP35 protein and an Ebola VP35 protein were alike in many ways.

Despite these resemblances, bat and viral forms of VP35 differ in function. Lab tests showed that bat VP35 helps to suppress production of an infection-fighting immune protein called interferon beta, but less effectively than Ebola and Marburg VP35s.

"How could a bat use a viral gene that normally suppresses interferon? While we don't know the exact answer, interferon is associated with inflammation, and it turns out that turning off the inflammation response is an important aspect of immune system function -- prolonged inflammation can be harmful in mammals," Taylor says. "So one possibility is that bats recruited a viral anti-inflammation gene to enhance control of inflammation."

Genetic theft: How it happens and why it matters

The new study was inspired in part by Taylor's prior work on VP35 and other "stolen" viral genes. Known as non-retroviral integrated RNA viral sequences (NIRVs), these co-opted genetic snippets are accidentally inserted into the genomes of infected hosts when a virus like Ebola or Marburg hijacks a host's genetic machinery to replicate.

NIRVs are a gold mine of information. Taylor, one of the first scientists to study them, calls them "scars of infection" and likens them to a "viral fossil record": You can investigate them to learn many fascinating things about the co-evolution of viruses and hosts.

In prior research, Taylor and colleagues used NIRVs to show that filoviruses -- the family housing Ebola and Marburg -- are ancient. The scientists also discovered that several mammals harbor the VP35 NIRV, which was originally acquired from archaic filoviruses that shared a common ancestor with Ebola and Marburg. Species that have this NIRV range from bats to hamsters, voles and wallabies.

The new project builds on this work by exploring VP35's modern function and showing that the gene has been meticulously conserved through evolution in mouse-eared bats.

"NIRVs can tell you something about the timescale of virus-host interactions, and they can tell you something about what types of hosts are being affected by a virus," Taylor says. "Now we're using them in this present study to inform functional studies. NIRVs are a fairly new area of study, and it's exciting to see what else we can learn from them."

Journal Reference:
Megan R. Edwards et al. Conservation of Structure and Immune Antagonist Functions of Filoviral VP35 Homologs Present in Microbat Genomes. Cell Reports, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.06.045


University at Buffalo. "Bats harbor a gene swiped from an ancient Ebola-like virus -- here's how they may use it: Study suggests that a gene encoding a viral protein has been carefully preserved in Myotis bats for millions of years." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 July 2018. .

Tuesday, July 09, 2024

 

Researchers listen to the hearts of bats in flight



Unique recordings show that bats can ramp up heart rate from 6 to 900 b.p.m within minutes



MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT

Male noctule bat 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHERS HAVE DISCOVERED THAT MALE NOCTULE BATS ADJUST THEIR ENERGY CONSUMPTION WITH THE SEASONS, USING UP TO 42% MORE ENERGY IN SUMMER THAN IN SPRING.

view more 

CREDIT: KAMRAN SAFI




Researchers from Konstanz have measured the heart rate of bats over several days in the wild, including complete flights—the first time this has been done for a bat species. To record the heart rate of male common noctule bats during flight, the scientists attached heart rate transmitters weighing less than one gram to the animals, which they then accompanied in an airplane while the bats flew, sometimes for more than an hour, in search of food. Their results, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, show how much energy bats consume over the course of a day and what energy-saving strategies they use to survive.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) and the University of Konstanz used a special method to study male common noctule bats, which are found throughout Europe. Their aim was to understand exactly how much energy bats consume during the day and how this changes over the course of the year.

"Bats are fascinating animals that often share their habitat with us humans," says Lara Keicher, the lead author of the study. "But bats are still shrouded in mystery. We don't yet have a clear answer to simple questions such as: How much food do they need and can they find enough of it in different seasons to survive?" To predict how bats will fare in a changing climate, Keicher says it is crucial to know their energy requirements.

Bats with heart rate transmitters

To find out, the scientists fitted bats with small heart rate transmitters weighing just 0.8 grams. As with humans, heart rate can be used to determine energy consumption. The transmitters, which the bats only wore for a few days, send out an audio signal of the bats' heartbeat, which is then recorded using a radio receiver. However, this only works if the receiver is within a few hundred meters from the bats.

"During the day, it was no problem to record the heart beats without major interruptions because bats were resting in tree caves or bat boxes," says Keicher, who carried out the study as part of her doctoral thesis at the University of Konstanz and the MPI-AB. At night, however, bats fly out to hunt insects and can cover several kilometers in a short time. In order to accompany the bats around the clock, including during their nocturnal flight, the researchers flew in a small airplane to follow individuals for entire flights lasting more than an hour. "I know that we surprised Konstanz locals when our small plane flew in circles over the island of Mainau late at night," recalls Keicher.

Awake during the day

The team, which also included members of the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research and the University of Freiburg, found that the heart rate of bats reaches around 900 beats per minute during flight. According to Keicher, who analyzed the signal, "it sounded like a single high-pitched tone to our ears". 

Using the unique recordings of heart beats, the scientists discovered fascinating strategies that bats use to budget their energy consumption in different seasons. They found that male common noctule bats consume up to 42% more energy in summer compared to spring. This is mainly due to the fact that the bats in spring go into a kind of short daytime hibernation known as “torpor”—an energy-saving state in which heart rate can be reduced to six beats per minute. “We saw that bats in spring could ramp up their heart rates when they wake up, reaching the top speed of 900 beats per minute within only a few minutes,” says Keicher.

The team was surprised that male bats did not use torpor in summer at all. Keicher explains: “In the warmer months, when food is plentiful, males stay awake during the day to invest energy in sperm production in order to be ready for mating in the autumn." To replenish the energy used up, the males hunt twice as long in summer as in spring and eat up to 33 June beetles or over 2500 mosquitoes in one night.

The results have provided insights into the energetic challenges of bats and their fascinating survival strategies. This understanding will allow better predictions of how increasingly extreme temperature fluctuations or changes in food availability will affect the animals' lives and potentially threaten them.

The senior author of the study, MPI-AB scientist Dina Dechmann, says: "All bat species are protected in Germany and some are threatened with extinction. Basic research that investigates the behavior of the animals and their adaptations to the environment can help us develop protective measures so that, for example, common noctule bats can continue to be seen in the night sky over Konstanz."

A YouTube video with audio of heart beats recorded from bats is here: https://youtu.be/l-C4vuyXZug?si=Bci81JZnMDDT8vUK


Night flight with bats [VIDEO] | 

Night flight at 300m altitude to follow bats.


Cessna used to fly with bats.

CREDIT

Christian Ziegler / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

Wednesday, August 09, 2023

Bat activity lower at solar farm sites, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

Bat activity lower at solar farm sites, study finds 

IMAGE: COMMON PIPISTRELLE view more 

CREDIT: DANIEL WHITBY




The activity level of six bat species was significantly reduced at solar farm sites, researchers have observed.    

Their findings, published today in Journal of Applied Ecology, have the potential to impact and inform planning legislation and policy so that the benefits of solar power are reaped without impacting wildlife. 

Renewable technologies are important in meeting energy demands sustainably. This is of vital importance given the roles of fossil fuels in producing carbon dioxide, a key driver of climate change. Renewable energy is growing at a rapid pace globally, with solar photovoltaic power providing about 30% of global renewable power, and increasing in amount by 25% in 2021.  

Lead author Lizy Tinsley from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences explained: “Renewable energies can have negative impacts on biodiversity and mitigation is essential to provide win-win solutions for energy suppliers and for wildlife.” 

To carry out their experiment, the team set up bat static monitoring equipment in a solar farm field, and a matched field without solar panels (control site). 

Fields were matched in size, land use, and boundary feature (e.g. hedge, fence, stream) and a bat detector was placed in the middle and edge of both fields, totalling four recording locations, repeated across 19 separate sites. Field boundaries were selected as they are important navigation features for bats.  

The data from the different echolocation calls at recording points were then analysed to identify the bat species and number of bat passes. They found that the activity level of Common Pipistrelle, Noctule, Myotis species, Serotine, Soprano pipistrelle and Long-eared species was substantially lower at solar farm sites, compared to the paired control sites. 

Lizy said: “Due to the significant negative impact identified, solar farm developments should be screened in an Environmental Impact Assessment for ecological impacts so that appropriate mitigation be designed against the impacts, and monitoring undertaken. 

“This has already been done with wind farms – where mortality of bats has been reduced by changing the wind speeds at which turbines become operational and by using acoustic deterrents, at minimal cost. 

“Further research is required to assess bat behaviour at solar farms, and why it is causing the significant decrease of certain species at the site. Is it the loss of suitable habitat that reduces activity? Are they fewer insect prey available, and are bats at risk of collisions with panels? 

“It will be important to identify mitigation strategies that can benefit bats at solar farms, such as planting insect-friendly plants, providing corridors to insect-rich habitats, or providing suitable alternative foraging habitats such as trees. 

“Mitigation strategies can potentially mean that renewable energy can be provided while simultaneously having no detriment to wildlife. Such mitigation will be critical in reaping the undoubted benefits for climate change that can be provided by renewable energy.” 

Co-author Professor Gareth Jones added: “This is novel research, as the impacts of solar farms on wildlife are currently little understood, with no evidence regarding their effects on bats, which can provide valuable ecosystem services such as the suppression of pest insect populations.  

“The situation is potentially of concern as solar farms are occupying increasing areas of suitable foraging area for bats, and we already know that bats can collide with vertical flat surfaces, and can mistake flat surfaces for water, and attempt to drink from them. Very little is known on the impacts of solar farms on bat, particularly in the UK.” 

The team now plan to look at the differences in invertebrate species richness and abundance between the paired sites. 

 

Illustration showing effect of solar farming on bat activity

CREDIT

Lizy Tinsley