Thinner bats to face hibernation as response to climate warming

Abstract

AbstractOne of the principal consequences of climate warming on hibernating mammals could be the loss of optimal conditions for hibernation. Although hibernating mammals, like bats, may be particularly vulnerable to climate warming due to a potential reduction of energy saving during the hibernation, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how they will be affected and how they will respond to this impact. Here, we examine the variation in the body condition of Schreiber’s bent-winged bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) to investigate changes in the optimization energy demand. Using a 20-year dataset (1998–2017), we analyse the temporal trends of body condition in three key stages of the hibernation period: onset and end of hibernation and early activity. Our results indicate that body condition at the onset and end of hibernation have decreased significantly over these 20 years. However, despite this lower body condition, the decrease of mass loss rate in the last decade (although not significant) indicate a greater saving of fat reserves. The significant increase in winter temperatures did not affect body condition or reserve depletion, instead, lower body condition was observed with a higher number of days below 0 °C. Unlike other hibernating bat species, the females had lower fat reserves than males in all three periods considered. This study indicates that hibernation energy requirements could be changing as an adaptation to a warmer climate and that hibernating bats can survive the winter by optimizing their lower accumulation of reserves.