title: Female dietary bias towards large migratory moths in the European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis).
abstract: In bats, sexual segregation has been described in relation to differential use of roosting and foraging habitats. It is possible that variation may also exist between genders in the use of different prey types. However, until recently this idea was difficult to test owing to poorly resolved taxonomy of dietary studies. Here, we use high-throughput sequencing to describe gender-related variation in diet composition of the European free-tailed bat (Tadarida teniotis), while controlling for effects of age and season. We analysed guano pellets collected from 143 individuals mist-netted from April to October 2012 and 2013, in northeast Portugal. Moths (Lepidoptera; mainly Noctuidae and Geometridae) were by far the most frequently recorded prey, occurring in nearly all samples and accounting for 96 out of 115 prey taxa. There were significant dietary differences between males and females, irrespective of age and season. Compared to males, females tended to consume larger moths and more moths of migratory behaviour (e.g.Autographa gamma). Our study provides the first example of gender-related dietary variation in bats, illustrating the value of novel molecular tools for revealing intraspecific variation in food resource use in bats and other insectivores.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal vanessamata@cibio.up.pt.
authors.forename: Vanessa A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3005-9030
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Mata
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7731-9242
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amorim
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Martin F V
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Corley
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Gary F
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2493-8103
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: McCracken
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK CEABN-InBIO, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada 'Professor Baeta Neves', Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7118-4068
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rebelo
authors.affiliation: CIBIO-InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal CEABN-InBIO, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada 'Professor Baeta Neves', Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8164-0760
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beja
mesh_terms: D025041:Animal Migration; D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D020387:Food Chain; D008297:Male; D009036:Moths / Q000502:physiology*; D011174:Portugal; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: COI; Tadarida teniotis; bat diet; gender segregation; metabarcoding; resource partitioning