Foraging Ecology
The Mammalian Ecology Group deals with questions concerning the food acquisition strategies and the dietary niche differentiation in bats, shrews, dormouse and voles using field methods (e.g. telemetry, snap light-stick observations, and molecular faecal analysis) in combination with behavioural studies in the flight tent. The main focus lies in analysis of the foraging behaviour, food intake, capture success, and prey spectra.
The foraging ecology research will focus on the issues of food acquisition and seasonal changes in the diet of mammalian insectivores. In addition, hypotheses about the relationships between the population structure of bats and small mammals and habitat features, particularly the biomass production (insect abundance), and the niche differentiation of sympatric bat species will be tested. To answer these questions, bats and small mammals are examined in the wild and in the laboratory. The insect abundance is comparatively determined in different habitats. These results help to interpret the prey spectra of species. Based on measurments of the stable isotope ratios of different tissues, it is possible examine the long-term diet. In addition, foraging strategies and insect capture rates of bats are be analyzed in a flight tent. Extensive data on habitat use of bats and small mammals already exists because of the long term studies of the Mammalian Ecology Group. On this basis, existing knowledge gaps are to be closed by detailed information.
In previous studies we found sex-specific differences in land use and seasonal food demands in bats. The elucidation of the adaptation to different seasonal food availability is an important research approach of the Mammalian Ecology Group. In particular the energy balance and the thermal ecology of different species of bats are to be comparatively analyzed. In addition to species and sex specific studies of feeding ecology a special focus lies on the interspecific competition in similar food patches.