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Conventional wisdom on roosting behavior of Australian flying-foxes-A critical review, and evaluation using new data.

ABSTRACT: Fruit bats (Family: Pteropodidae) are animals of great ecological and economic importance, yet their populations are threatened by ongoing habitat loss and human persecution. A lack of ecological knowledge for the vast majority of Pteropodid species presents additional challenges for their conservation and management.In Australia, populations of flying-fox species (Genus: Pteropus) are declining and management approaches are highly contentious. Australian flying-fox roosts are exposed to management regimes involving habitat modification, through human-wildlife conflict management policies, or vegetation restoration programs. Details on the fine-scale roosting ecology of flying-foxes are not sufficiently known to provide evidence-based guidance for these regimes, and the impact on flying-foxes of these habitat modifications is poorly understood.We seek to identify and test commonly held understandings about the roosting ecology of Australian flying-foxes to inform practical recommendations and guide and refine management practices at flying-fox roosts.We identify 31 statements relevant to understanding of flying-fox roosting structure and synthesize these in the context of existing literature. We then contribute a contemporary, fine-scale dataset on within-roost structure to further evaluate 11 of these statements. The new dataset encompasses 13-monthly repeat measures from 2,522 spatially referenced roost trees across eight sites in southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.We show evidence of sympatry and indirect competition between species, including spatial segregation of black and grey-headed flying-foxes within roosts and seasonal displacement of both species by little red flying-foxes. We demonstrate roost-specific annual trends in occupancy and abundance and provide updated demographic information including the spatial and temporal distributions of males and females within roosts.Insights from our systematic and quantitative study will be important to guide evidence-based recommendations on restoration and management and will be crucial for the implementation of priority recovery actions for the preservation of these species in the future.

SUBMITTER: Lunn TJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8495814 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundHendra virus (HeV) has caused lethal disease outbreaks in humans and horses in Australia. Flying foxes are the wildlife reservoir from which the virus was first isolated in 1996. Following a heat stress mortality event in Australian flying foxes in 2013, a novel HeV variant was discovered. This study describes the subsequent surveillance of Australian flying foxes for this novel virus over a nine year period using qRT-PCR testing of tissues from flying foxes submitted primarily for Australian bat lyssavirus diagnosis. Genome sequencing and characterisation of the novel HeV variant was also undertaken.MethodsSpleen and kidney samples harvested from flying fox carcasses were initially screened with two real-time qRT-PCR assays specific for the prototype HeV. Two additional qRT-PCR assays were developed specific for the HeV variant first detected in samples from a flying fox in 2013. Next-generation sequencing and virus isolation was attempted from selected samples to further characterise the new virus.ResultsSince 2013, 98 flying foxes were tested and 11 were positive for the new HeV variant. No samples were positive for the original HeV. Ten of the positive samples were from grey-headed flying foxes (GHFF, Pteropus poliocephalus), however this species was over-represented in the opportunistic sampling (83% of bats tested were GHFF). The positive GHFF samples were collected from Victoria and South Australia and one positive Little red flying fox (LRFF, Pteropus scapulatus) was collected from Western Australia. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of henipavirus antigen, associated with an inflammatory lesion in cardiac blood vessels of one GHFF. Positive samples were sequenced and the complete genome was obtained from three samples. When compared to published HeV genomes, there was 84% sequence identity at the nucleotide level. Based on phylogenetic analyses, the newly detected HeV belongs to the HeV species but occupies a distinct lineage. We have therefore designated this virus HeV genotype 2 (HeV-g2). Attempts to isolate virus from PCR positive samples have not been successful.ConclusionsA novel HeV genotype (HeV-g2) has been identified in two flying fox species submitted from three states in Australia, indicating that the level of genetic diversity for HeV is broader than first recognised. Given its high genetic relatedness to HeV, HeV-g2 is a zoonotic pathogen.

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Conventional wisdom on roosting behavior of Australian flying-foxes-A critical review, and evaluation using new data.

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