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			HotScience last updated: 19 February 2003 O... O’Donnell, C. F. J. 2000. Cryptic local populations in a temperate rainforest bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus in New Zealand. Animal Conservation 3: 287–297. Long-tailed bats form long term non-random associations among individuals. Three distinct social groups (72–132 bats) were cryptic because foraging ranges overlapped, bats belonging to each group spread over many roosts each day, and these roost sites changed from day to day. Bats moved infrequently between groups (1.6% of recaptures), potentially linking the local population assemblages. Population structure did not conform to traditional metapopulation models because groups occurred in homogeneous habitat extending over a large area. Conservation of bat populations should entail protecting representative sub-groups, but development of models for predicting minimum number of effective local populations is still required. O’Donnell, C. F. J. 2000. Conservation status and causes of decline of the threatened New Zealand Long-tailed Bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae). Mammal Review 30: 89–106. Historical anecdotes and monitoring since 1990, indicate that long-tailed bats are now rare or absent at many sites where formerly they were common. Assertions in the literature that they are “common” and that the conservation status is “secure” are incorrect and the species should be classed as “Vulnerable”. Possible causes of decline include clearance and logging of lowland forests, predation by introduced mammals and owls, competition for roost sites by introduced mammals, birds and wasps, and human interference and disturbance at roosting sites. O’Donnell, C. F. J. 2001. Home range and use of space by Chalinolobus tuberculatus, a temperate rainforest bat from New Zealand. Journal of Zoology (London) 253: 253–264. Home range sizes in long-tailed bats were among the largest published for Microchiroptera. These bats were highly mobile. One colony ranged over 100 km² and range size varied among age and sex classes (medians = 237–2,006 ha; max 5629 ha). A prediction that these bats have large ranges to minimise overlap between foraging bats, reflecting scarcity of food, requires testing. Large range size and the degree of individual spacing implies that conservation areas designed for bats should be large. O’Donnell, C. F. J. 2002. Influence of sex and reproductive status on nocturnal activity and night roost-ing by the New Zealand long-tailed bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus. Journal of Mammalogy 83: 794–803. This paper tests the hypothesis that reproductive long-tailed bats should forage for longer than other classes. Length of active periods did not differ among reproductive females, non-repro-ductive females, and adult males. Reproductive females were active for significantly longer during lactation than during preg-nancy but not post-lactation. I predict few differences between reproductive classes because: energy demands are high through-out the reproductive cycle; females have different mechanisms, such as increasing foraging efficiency, using torpor, and select-ing thermally beneficial roosts, for balancing high energy re-quirements; and energy demands limit all classes in the cold temperate climate when food is in short supply. O’Donnell, C. F. J. 2002. Timing of breeding, produc-tivity and survival of long-tailed bats Chalinolobus tuberculatus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in cold- temperate rainforest in New Zealand. Journal of Zoology (London) 257: 311–323. This paper reports on breeding of long-tailed bats for the first time. Most births occurred over 10 days in mid-December. Young began flying at 5–6 weeks. Lactation coincided with highest temperatures and peak abundance of insects. Annual survival of juveniles varied from 0.26–0.88. The short, highly synchronous breeding season, birth of single young, early mat-ing, and late age of sexual maturity compared to similar-sized bats, may be related to low food availability and unpredictable cold-temperate weather conditions. Poor productivity in 1996 coincided with an irruption of stoats, implying that predation may cause population crashes.
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