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Social rank and personality (consistent behavioural traits) can influence access to resources that could be critical for fat accumulation and survival from disease. For Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus) recovering from the fungal disease white-nose syndrome, understanding behavioural dynamics may also be important for maintaining animals in captivity for conservation research. We hypothesized that Little Brown Bats will exhibit social structure in captivity, and that social rank and personality affect feeding behaviour. We predicted that bats would arrive at the feeding dish in a similar order each night and that higher ranked and more active individuals would spend more time and feed more frequently at the food dish. Bats arrived at the feeding dish in a similar order each night, suggesting that social rank may affect feeding in captive bat colonies. However, neither the order of arrival or personality correlated with feeding behaviour. We recommend that future studies test for the influence of dominant-subordinate relationships on social structure in captive and free-ranging insectivorous bats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging infectious diseases pose an important threat to wildlife. While established protocols exist for combating outbreaks of human and agricultural pathogens, appropriate management actions before, during, and after the invasion of wildlife pathogens have not been developed. We describe stage-specific goals and management actions that minimize disease impacts on wildlife, and the research required to implement them. Before pathogen arrival, reducing the probability of introduction through quarantine and trade restrictions is key because prevention is more cost effective than subsequent responses. On the invasion front, the main goals are limiting pathogen spread and preventing establishment. In locations experiencing an epidemic, management should focus on reducing transmission and disease, and promoting the development of resistance or tolerance. Finally, if pathogen and host populations reach a stable stage, then recovery of host populations in the face of new threats is paramount. Successful management of wildlife disease requires risk-taking, rapid implementation, and an adaptive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bat mortality has been reported at industrial scale wind facilities across North America, with tree-roosting bats accounting for most fatalities, but no data exist for central Canada. We quantified rates of mortality at a wind energy facility in Manitoba, Canada by conducting standardized carcass searches corrected for searcher efficiency and scavenging from mid-August to mid-September 2007. We found that mortality was consistent with, but qualitatively higher than that at comparable wind facilities in western Canada. Mortality of the species most commonly killed, Silver-haired Bats, was evenly distributed across the wind facility, but mortality of Hoary and Eastern Red Bats was higher at some turbines than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]