Individual costs and benefits of living in groups vary with group size, stability, and composition. Investigations of these features of group living have lead to the recognition of a variety of social structures. Although many studies have examined social structure in animals with long-term, stable groups, little is known about groups with highly variable group size and composition, such as fission-fusion dynamics. In this thesis I examined the causes and consequences of fission-fusion dynamics by exploring the socioecology of female northern long-eared bats, Myotis septentrionalis. Like many temperate bats, female northern long-eared bats show natal philopatry to summer areas. During this time, they live in groups with fission-fusion dynamics as individuals move among a network of roosts and roost-groups. To examine the causes of fission-fusion dynamics, I examined why females switch roosts. To address the consequences of these dynamics, I asked whether females could form stable relationships, and what factors might explain these relationships. I was able to identify the possible causes and consequences of fission-fusion dynamics that had not yet been explored in bats. I demonstrated that fission-fusion dynamics may be explained, at least in part, by changes in ambient conditions that prompt frequent roost-switching. Despite the highly dynamic nature of these groups, females formed long-term social relationships that were based in part on age and genetic relatedness. These findings have potential consequences for the evolution of social behaviour within groups, such as cooperation and nepotism. My work also raised several questions that require further examination to fully understand the evolution of fission-fusion dynamics. For example, the question remains whether species or sympatric groups of conspecifics with different degrees of roost-switching show the same social structure. By answering these questions, we can gain a better understanding of the causes and consequences of fission-fusion dynamics across species of bats. Once this is achieved, we can then look for parallels with other taxa to answer questions about the evolution of these dynamic systems.

Habitat fragmentation is one of the most important factors affecting species extinction and biodiversity loss, Species habitat response expects to differ with habitat feature at different spatial scales and this study was to identify how bat diversity and individual bat species respond to different habitat amounts. The local bat species richness was observed in 156 different locations in Östergötland and the proportion of different habitats were calculated for circular areas with diameters ranging from 400 m. to 12 km. from each location. Although we found that the individual bat species responded differently to the amount of each habitat at different spatial scales, the bat species richness showed a decreasing response with increasing spatial scale. The strongest response of bat species richness to habitat characteristics was at a scale of 939 m.

Human beings have been exposed to different cold conditions throughout time, and have through cold acclimation developed mechanisms to survive in these conditions. Cold acclimation can be elicited through exposure to natural cold climates, or artificially induced in a laboratory to study the body’s response to repeated cold exposures. Several studies looking at the effects of cold acclimation in humans have been conducted during the last 50 years, and have reported that cold acclimation can lead to a change in skin and core temperature, heat production and shivering. An accurate quantification of shivering thermogenesis (ST) during cold acclimation has not been done before, and most previous measurements of shivering during cold acclimation have been inaccurate and inadequate. In this study a Liquid Condition Suits (LCS) was used to elicit cold acclimation (10°C, 2hr daily, for 4 weeks) while an accurate measurement of the effect of cold acclimation on changes in muscle activity was conducted. In CHAPTER 2, results showed that four weeks of cold acclimation at 10°C did not change skin and core temperature, heat production or ST. The effects on shivering pattern and fuel selection were also analysed, but no effects of cold acclimation could be observed. These measurements were a part of a larger study, in which the effects of cold acclimation on changes in BAT were the main outcome measures. These data showed that an increase in BAT volume (45%) and activity (120%) were the only observed effects of cold acclimation. In CHAPTER 3, we set out to assess if changes in shivering from pre to post cold acclimation are associated with changes in BAT volume, and if the amount of BAT a participant possesses prior to cold acclimation can be used to predict changes in shivering intensity during cold acclimation. The interindividual variability in changes in thermal responses, heat production, shivering and BAT volume occurring between subjects during four weeks of cold acclimation was also addressed in this section.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 9, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: River and riparian areas are important foraging habitat for insectivorous bats. Numerous studies have shown that aquatic insects provide an important trophic resource to terrestrial consumers, including bats, and are key in regulating population size and species interactions in terrestrial food webs. Yet these studies have generally ignored how structural characteristics of the riverine landscape influence trophic resource availability or how terrestrial consumers respond to ensuing spatial and temporal patterns of trophic resources. Moreover, few studies have examined linkages between a stream's hydrologic regime and the timing and magnitude of aquatic insect availability. The main objective of my dissertation is to understand the causes of bat distributions in space and time. Specifically, I examine how trophic resource availability, structural components of riverine landscapes (channel confinement and riparian vegetation structure), and hydrologic regimes (flow permanence and timing of floods) mediate spatial and temporal patterns in bat activity. First, I show that river channel confinement determines bat activity along a river's longitudinal axis (directly above the river), while trophic resources appear to have stronger effects across a river's lateral (with distance from the river) axis. Second, I show that flow intermittency affects bat foraging activity indirectly via its effects on trophic resource availability. Seasonal river drying appears to have complex effects on bat foraging activity, initially causing imperfect tracking by consumers of localized concentrations of resources but later resulting in disappearance of both insects and bats after complete river drying. Third, I show that resource tracking by bats varies among streams with contrasting patterns of trophic resource availability and this variation appears to be in response to differences in the timing of aquatic insect emergence, duration and magnitude of emergence, and adult body size of emergent aquatic insects. Finally, I show that aquatic insects directly influence bat activity along a desert stream and that riparian vegetation composition affects bat activity, but only indirectly, via effects on aquatic insect availability. Overall, my results show river channel confinement, riparian vegetation structure, flow permanence, and the timing of floods influence spatial and temporal patterns in bat distributions; but these effects are indirect by influencing the ability of bats to track trophic resources in space and time. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Biology 2010

Agricultural activities produce a number of dangerous wastes affecting the environment. One is powder produced in livestock production, in particular in stables factory farms. Particulate emissions from livestock buildings are particularly important for the closest neighborhood stables. It is the subject of conflicts between farmers and their neighbors. The source of dust in livestock buildings are mainly food (fine particles modified cereals and dried plants) renegade animal skin particles, urine crystals and particles of feces. The aim of this work is to determine the concentration of dust in the factory farming of chickens for meat. Secondly, the aim is to compare BAT (Best Available Technique - Best Available Technology) technology used in stables with the reference document BREF (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control - Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control). Measurements were carried out on a Farma U lesa in Sudoměřice u Bechyně on a poultry farm in Horní Miletín.

This diploma thesis aims to measure the harmful gas emissions and evaluate methods and technologies used in an observed fattening pigs company. Subsequently observed methods and technologies are compared with best available techniques BATs and economically evaluated. The thesis contains three hypotheses. 1. Do measured production emissions of ammonia from the selected plant comply with the limits and recommendation of EU directives? 2. Is the applied BAT suitable from the economical point of view even for Czech agriculturists? 3. Do measured values comply with the decrease of ammonia levels according to the calculated decrease in the BREF document? The measured values and subsequent evaluation show that the production emissions of ammonia comply with the EU directives. However, the measured ammonia emissions are significantly lower than the theoretical values calculated according to the legislation that takes into account the used technology. BAT-reducing technologies used in the plant are suitable for Czech agriculturists.

Emergent epizootics are responsible for dramatic declines in wildlife populations over the past few years. An emerging fungal-borne epizootic, called white-nose syndrome (WNS), is responsible for a catastrophic decline of hibernating bats in North America The fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), is the causative agent of WNS, but to date, we have limited understanding of how an infection with Pd can lead to mortality in hibernating bats. Evidence suggests dehydration is an important part of the pathogenesis of WNS. Cryan et al. (2010) proposed four possible mechanisms by which infection could lead to dehydration. In this study, I tested one of these hypotheses - Pd infection could cause disruption to passive gas-exchange pathways across the wing membranes, thereby causing a compensatory increase in water-intensive pulmonary respiration. I hypothesized total evaporative water loss would be greater when passive gas-exchange was inhibited, especially at low ambient temperatures. I found that bats did not lose more water when passive gas-exchange was retarded (at least within the resolution of my equipment). This study provides evidence against the proposed proximal mechanism that disruption to passive gas-exchange causes dehydration and ultimately death to WNS-infected bats.