A Review of the Occurrence of Bats (Chiroptera) on Islands in the North East Atlantic and on North Sea Installations

The bats recorded from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, and North Sea installations are reviewed to the end of 2012. In total 12 species have been positively identified, while a considerable proportion of all records are sightings of unidentified bats. Eight of the species are European in origin and four originate from the New World. The largest number of species (8) has been recorded in Iceland, but the greatest number of individuals (180) has been found in Orkney. The bat invasion on the Faroe Islands in 2010 is without precedence, when 70 observations of a minimum of 45 individuals were noted. Most bat observations in the study area occurred in the autumn, with fewer in the spring. Most observations were of single animals, but there were also sightings of up to 12 individuals. There has been a marked increase in bat records in the past three decades. We discuss whether this is a real increase, or due to improved communications, increased public awareness, increased shipping, changes in weather patterns and/or the effects of climate change. All factors appear to be involved.© Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS. The attached document is the author(’s’) final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it

Bats Avoid Radar Installations: Could Electromagnetic Fields Deter Bats from Colliding with Wind Turbines?

Large numbers of bats are killed by collisions with wind turbines, and there is at present no direct method of reducing or preventing this mortality. We therefore determine whether the electromagnetic radiation associated with radar installations can elicit an aversive behavioural response in foraging bats. Four civil air traffic control (ATC) radar stations, three military ATC radars and three weather radars were selected, each surrounded by heterogeneous habitat. Three sampling points matched for habitat type and structure, dominant vegetation species, altitude and surrounding land class were located at increasing distances from each station. A portable electromagnetic field meter measured the field strength of the radar at three distances from the source: in close proximity (<200 m) with a high electromagnetic field (EMF) strength >2 volts/metre, an intermediate point within line of sight of the radar (200–400 m) and with an EMF strength <2 v/m, and a control site out of sight of the radar (>400 m) and registering an EMF of zero v/m. At each radar station bat activity was recorded three times with three independent sampling points monitored on each occasion, resulting in a total of 90 samples, 30 of which were obtained within each field strength category. At these sampling points, bat activity was recorded using an automatic bat recording station, operated from sunset to sunrise. Bat activity was significantly reduced in habitats exposed to an EMF strength of greater than 2 v/m when compared to matched sites registering EMF levels of zero. The reduction in bat activity was not significantly different at lower levels of EMF strength within 400 m of the radar. We predict that the reduction in bat activity within habitats exposed to electromagnetic radiation may be a result of thermal induction and an increased risk of hyperthermia

Cooperative dynamic MPC for networked control systems

This work studies cooperative MPC for Networked Control Systems with multiple wireless nodes. Communication between nodes is affected by random packet dropouts. An algorithm is presented to decide at each time instant which nodes will calculate the control input and which will only relay data. The nodes chosen to calculate the control values solve a cooperative MPC by communicating with their neighbors. This algorithm makes the control architecture flexible by adapting it to the possible changes in the network conditions

Genetic diversity of a successful colonizer: isolated populations of Metrioptera roeselii regain variation at an unusually rapid rate

Newly founded isolated populations need to overcome detrimental effects of low genetic diversity. The establishment success of a population may therefore depend on various mechanisms such as assortative mating, purging of deleterious alleles, creation of new mutations and/or repeated inflow of new genotypes to reduce the effects of inbreeding and further loss of genetic variation. We compared the level of genetic variation in introduced populations of an insect species (Metrioptera roeselii) far beyond its natural distribution with levels found in their respective founder populations and coupled the data with timing since establishment. This allowed us to analyze if the introduced populations showed signs of temporal changes in genetic variation and have made it possible to evaluate underlying mechanisms. For this, we used neutral genetic markers, seven microsatellite loci and a 676-bp-long sequence of the mtDNA COI gene. All tested indices (allelic richness, unbiased expected heterozygosity, effective size, haplotype diversity, and nucleotide diversity) except inbreeding coefficient had significantly higher values in populations within the founding populations inside the continuous area of the species distribution compared with the introduced populations. A logarithmic model showed a significant correlation of both allelic richness and unbiased expected heterozygosity with age of the isolated populations. Considering the species' inferred colonization history and likely introduction pathways, we suggest that multiple introductions are the main mechanism behind the temporal pattern observed. However, we argue that influences of assortative mating, directional selection, and effects of an exceptional high intrapopulation mutation rate may have impacts. The ability to regain genetic diversity at this level may be one of the main reasons why M.roeselii successfully continue to colonize northern Europe

Hierarchical path analysis of deer responses to direct and indirect effects of climate in northern forest

A problem in climate studies has been on how to treat causal chains of explanations and both direct and indirect effects. Mammals in strongly seasonal environments of the boreal forest typically lose condition during winter and gain mass (and reproduce) during the summer season when biomass and plant quality peak. Mass decay of large herbivores during winter is due to direct effects of winter weather, such as increased costs of movement, thermoregulation and reduced access to food when snow is deep. Deer condition during summer is thought to be affected mainly indirectly by weather through plants. High spring temperature speeds up plant development, and deep snow can delay phenology in early summer. Current statistical modelling does not take into account these mechanistic pathways. We used hierarchical Bayes modelling to more mechanistically link global climate, local weather and plant phenology to autumn body mass of red deer in Norway. Red deer were much more affected indirectly through trophic interactions. No solid evidence of direct effects of snow depth was found on autumn body mass. We discuss the implications of our results relative to our ability to predict effects of global change on large mammalian herbivores in the boreal forest