Luísa Rodrigues

Bio: Luísa Rodrigues is an academic researcher from University of Minho. The author has contributed to research in topics: Animal ecology & Philopatry. The author has an hindex of 17, co-authored 18 publications receiving 1054 citations.

Bat Mortality at Wind Turbines in Northwestern Europe

Abstract: We reviewed published and unpublished written reports on bat mortality at wind farms in northwestern Europe. The estimated number of bats killed per turbine annually was relatively low (0–3) on flat, open farmland away from the coast, higher (2–5) in more complex agricultural landscapes, and highest (5–20) at the coast and on forested hills and ridges. The species killed almost exclusively (98%) belonged to a group (Nyctalus, Pipistrellus, Vespertilio and Eptesicus spp.) adapted for open-air foraging. The bats were killed by the moving rotor blades as they hunted insects attracted to the turbines. This occurred independently of sex and age. Peak mortality varied considerably in frequency and timing among years, but the events usually (90%) occurred on nights with low wind speeds in late July to early October and to a lesser extent (10%) also in April-June. The mortality increased with turbine tower height and rotor diameter but was independent of the distance from the ground to the lowest rotor point. It was also independent of the size of the wind park (1–18 turbines). Bat species other than the open-air suite referred to above are usually not at risk at wind turbines, because they fly below the rotors, but are still killed occasionally (2%).

Disease alters macroecological patterns of North American bats

Abstract: Aim We investigated the effects of disease on the local abundances and distributions of species at continental scales by examining the impacts of white-nose syndrome, an infectious disease of hibernating bats, which has recently emerged in

Impacts of wind energy development on bats : A global perspective

Abstract: Wind energy continues to be one of the fastest growing renewable energy sources under development, and while representing a clean energy source, it is not environmentally neutral. Large numbers of bats are being killed at utility-scale wind energy facilities worldwide, raising concern about cumulative impacts of wind energy development on bat populations. We discuss our current state of knowledge on patterns of bat fatalities at wind facilities, estimates of fatalities, mitigation efforts, and policy and conservation implications. Given the magnitude and extent of fatalities of bats worldwide, the conservation implications of understanding and mitigating bat fatalities at wind energy facilities are critically important and should be proactive and based on science rather than being reactive and arbitrary.

Growing old, yet staying young: The role of telomeres in bats’ exceptional longevity

Abstract: Understanding aging is a grand challenge in biology. Exceptionally long-lived animals have mechanisms that underpin extreme longevity. Telomeres are protective nucleotide repeats on chromosome tips that shorten with cell division, potentially limiting life span. Bats are the longest-lived mammals for their size, but it is unknown whether their telomeres shorten. Using >60 years of cumulative mark-recapture field data, we show that telomeres shorten with age in Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Miniopterus schreibersii, but not in the bat genus with greatest longevity, Myotis. As in humans, telomerase is not expressed in Myotis myotis blood or fibroblasts. Selection tests on telomere maintenance genes show that ATM and SETX, which repair and prevent DNA damage, potentially mediate telomere dynamics in Myotis bats. Twenty-one telomere maintenance genes are differentially expressed in Myotis, of which 14 are enriched for DNA repair, and 5 for alternative telomere-lengthening mechanisms. We demonstrate how telomeres, telomerase, and DNA repair genes have contributed to the evolution of exceptional longevity in Myotis bats, advancing our understanding of healthy aging.

Mortality of bats at wind turbines links to nocturnal insect migration

Abstract: This note is based on a literature search and a recent review of bat mortality data from wind farms in Europe (published elsewhere). We suggest that mortality of bats at wind turbines may be linked to high-altitude feeding on migrating insects that accumulate at the turbine towers. Modern wind turbines seem to reach high enough into the airspace to interfere with the migratory movements of insects. The hypothesis is consistent with recent observations of bats at wind turbines. It is supported by the observation that mortality of bats at wind turbines is highly seasonal (August–September) and typically peaks during nights with weather conditions known to trigger large-scale migratory movements of insects (and songbirds). We also discuss other current hypotheses concerning the mortality of bats at wind turbines.

Economic Importance of Bats in Agriculture

Abstract: White-nose syndrome (WNS) and the increased development of wind-power facilities are threatening populations of insectivorous bats in North America. Bats are voracious predators of nocturnal insects, including many crop and forest pests. We present here analyses suggesting that loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses estimated at more than $3.7 billion/year. Urgent efforts are needed to educate the public and policy-makers about the ecological and economic importance of insectivorous bats and to provide practical conservation solutions.

A comparison of bats and rodents as reservoirs of zoonotic viruses: are bats special?

Abstract: Bats are the natural reservoirs of a number of high-impact viral zoonoses. We present a quantitative analysis to address the hypothesis that bats are unique in their propensity to host zoonotic viruses based on a comparison with rodents, another important host order. We found that bats indeed host more zoonotic viruses per species than rodents, and we identified life-history and ecological factors that promote zoonotic viral richness. More zoonotic viruses are hosted by species whose distributions overlap with a greater number of other species in the same taxonomic order (sympatry). Specifically in bats, there was evidence for increased zoonotic viral richness in species with smaller litters (one young), greater longevity and more litters per year. Furthermore, our results point to a new hypothesis to explain in part why bats host more zoonotic viruses per species: the stronger effect of sympatry in bats and more viruses shared between bat species suggests that interspecific transmission is more prevalent among bats than among rodents. Although bats host more zoonotic viruses per species, the total number of zoonotic viruses identified in bats (61) was lower than in rodents (68), a result of there being approximately twice the number of rodent species as bat species. Therefore, rodents should still be a serious concern as reservoirs of emerging viruses. These findings shed light on disease emergence and perpetuation mechanisms and may help lead to a predictive framework for identifying future emerging infectious virus reservoirs.

Inferring the mammal tree: Species-level sets of phylogenies for questions in ecology, evolution, and conservation

Abstract: Big, time-scaled phylogenies are fundamental to connecting evolutionary processes to modern biodiversity patterns. Yet inferring reliable phylogenetic trees for thousands of species involves numerous trade-offs that have limited their utility to comparative biologists. To establish a robust evolutionary timescale for all approximately 6,000 living species of mammals, we developed credible sets of trees that capture root-to-tip uncertainty in topology and divergence times. Our “backbone-and-patch” approach to tree building applies a newly assembled 31-gene supermatrix to two levels of Bayesian inference: (1) backbone relationships and ages among major lineages, using fossil node or tip dating, and (2) species-level “patch” phylogenies with nonoverlapping in-groups that each correspond to one representative lineage in the backbone. Species unsampled for DNA are either excluded (“DNA-only” trees) or imputed within taxonomic constraints using branch lengths drawn from local birth–death models (“completed” trees). Joining time-scaled patches to backbones results in species-level trees of extant Mammalia with all branches estimated under the same modeling framework, thereby facilitating rate comparisons among lineages as disparate as marsupials and placentals. We compare our phylogenetic trees to previous estimates of mammal-wide phylogeny and divergence times, finding that (1) node ages are broadly concordant among studies, and (2) recent (tip-level) rates of speciation are estimated more accurately in our study than in previous “supertree” approaches, in which unresolved nodes led to branch-length artifacts. Credible sets of mammalian phylogenetic history are now available for download at http://vertlife.org/phylosubsets, enabling investigations of long-standing questions in comparative biology.