Reader Comments

Post a new comment on this article

Introduction to Lab Group Discussion of Popa-Lisseanu et al 2007

Posted by matina1 on 29 Sep 2008 at 17:00 GMT

Previous studies (Dondine and Veragari 2000, Ibáñez et al 2001) reported that feathers were found in the fecal pellets of the giant noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), suggesting that these insectivorous bats were preying on migratory songbirds during the fall migration. To examine this hypothesis, Popa-Lisseanu et al. (2007) in this study compared stable isotopes signatures of carbon and nitrogen of the bats to isotope signatures of potential insect and migrating songbird prey in spring and fall to examine whether N. lasiopterus uses migrating songbirds as a food source. We enjoyed discussing this paper very much and found the isotopic evidence in support of N. lasiopterus feeding on migrating songbirds in the fall to be compelling. As is often the case, part of our discussion revolved around the paper itself, while the other part of our discussion involved interesting questions that these data generate. Our discussion also involved some background information on the use of stable isotopes to explain expected fractionation in blood tissue and reasons for latitudinal carbon shift.

RE: Introduction to Lab Group Discussion of Popa-Lisseanu et al 2007

anapopa replied to matina1 on 25 Oct 2008 at 16:02 GMT

Dear Matina,
Many thanks for your interesting questions. You have really identified the most exciting topics that arise from a thorough reading of our paper. Unfortunately there is no definitive answer for most of the questions, but we will try to bring up a few ideas that we hope you may find useful. You can also read more discussions related to this topic in Ibáñez et al., 2001, PNAS 98:9700-9702; Ibáñez et al., 2003, Funct Ecol 17:143-145; and Thabah et al., 2007, J Mamm 88:728-735.

Sincerely,

Carlos Ibáñez and Ana Popa-Lisseanu