Lunar phobia in phyllostomid bats at La Ceiba, Tuxpan, Veracruz

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Abstract

ABSTRACT. The term lunar phobia is used to explain the behavior that some nocturnal animals have to avoid periods with greater moonlight intensity. The aim was to determine the effect of the brightness of the new moon and the full moon on the richness, abundance and diversity of the phyllostomid bat community at the La Ceiba estate, Tuxpan, Veracruz, where the study was conducted from October 2013 to February 2014 using five mist nets for two nights per month. We captured 142 bats belonging to eight species, with Artibeus lituratus being the species with the highest records in both lunar phases (74 individuals). Although no significant differences were found in diversity between the two lunar phases, greater cumulative species richness and abundance were recorded in the new moon (eight species, 118 individuals) than the full moon (five species, 24 individuals). The significant decrease in abundance between the new moon and the full moon, mainly of small frugivorous species, indicates that lunar luminosity affects bat activity. It also has an effect on total species richness as three species were exclusively recorded in the new moon phase.

Translated abstract

RESUMEN. El término fobia lunar se emplea para explicar el comportamiento que algunos animales nocturnos presentan al evadir los periodos con mayor luminosidad de la luna. El objetivo fue conocer el efecto de la luminosidad de luna nueva y la luna llena sobre la riqueza, abundancia y diversidad de murciélagos. El estudio se realizó en la finca La Ceiba de octubre 2013 a febrero 2014 empleando cinco redes de niebla durante dos noches por mes. Se capturaron 142 murciélagos pertenecientes a ocho especies, siendo Artibeus lituratus la especie con mayores registros en ambas fases lunares. Aunque no se encontraron diferencias significativas en la diversidad entre ambas fases lunares, se registró una mayor riqueza y abundancia acumulada en la luna nueva con ocho especies y 118 individuos. Lo que demuestra que la luminosidad lunar afecta la actividad de los murciélagos al presentarse una disminución significativa de la abundancia entre la luna nueva y la luna llena, principalmente de especies frugívoras pequeñas, mientras que en la luna nueva se registraron tres especies exclusivas.

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Most cited references 21

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Does moonlight increase predation risk? Meta-analysis reveals divergent responses of nocturnal mammals to lunar cycles.

Laura R Prugh, Christopher D Golden (2014)

The risk of predation strongly affects mammalian population dynamics and community interactions. Bright moonlight is widely believed to increase predation risk for nocturnal mammals by increasing the ability of predators to detect prey, but the potential for moonlight to increase detection of predators and the foraging efficiency of prey has largely been ignored. Studies have reported highly variable responses to moonlight among species, calling into question the assumption that moonlight increases risk. Here, we conducted a quantitative meta-analysis examining the effects of moonlight on the activity of 59 nocturnal mammal species to test the assumption that moonlight increases predation risk. We examined patterns of lunarphilia and lunarphobia across species in relation to factors such as trophic level, habitat cover preference and visual acuity. Across all species included in the meta-analysis, moonlight suppressed activity. The magnitude of suppression was similar to the presence of a predator in experimental studies of foraging rodents (13.6% and 18.7% suppression, respectively). Contrary to the expectation that moonlight increases predation risk for all prey species, however, moonlight effects were not clearly related to trophic level and were better explained by phylogenetic relatedness, visual acuity and habitat cover. Moonlight increased the activity of prey species that use vision as their primary sensory system and suppressed the activity of species that primarily use other senses (e.g. olfaction, echolocation), and suppression was strongest in open habitat types. Strong taxonomic patterns underlay these relationships: moonlight tended to increase primate activity, whereas it tended to suppress the activity of rodents, lagomorphs, bats and carnivores. These results indicate that visual acuity and habitat cover jointly moderate the effect of moonlight on predation risk, whereas trophic position has little effect. While the net effect of moonlight appears to increase predation risk for most nocturnal mammals, our results highlight the importance of sensory systems and phylogenetic history in determining the level of risk. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2013 British Ecological Society.