Even on a good day the environment can be wildly unpredictable, from unexpected gusts of wind to food scarcity, and as humans continue to edge out the natural world, the stress on wild populations is increasing.
Even on a good day the environment can be wildly unpredictable, from unexpected gusts of wind to food scarcity, and as humans continue to edge out the natural world, the stress on wild populations is increasing.
«Bats are critical for the maintenance and stability of many terrestrial ecosystems,» say Mattina Alonge [University of California, Berkeley (UCB), U.S.] and Lucas Greville (McMaster University, Canada) and the animals are known to be particularly sensitive when under strain. But little was known about the impact that stress might have on their ability to reproduce.
Concerned about the effect of stress on already vulnerable bat populations, Alonge and her colleagues decided to find out how a brief period of stress affected the brains and fertility of male big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus).
