Diet of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) in Leelanau County, Michigan
Data files
Mar 17, 2026 version files 98.17 KB
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CorrectSeqs2202022.fasta
63.94 KB
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DietResults02212022.txt
32.76 KB
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README.md
1.47 KB
Abstract
The cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, can produce the hepatotoxin microcystin. When toxic M. aeruginosa overwinters in the sediments of lakes, it may be ingested by aquatic insects and bioaccumulate in nymphs of Hexagenia mayflies. When volant Hexagenia emerge from lakes to reproduce, they provide an abundant, albeit temporary, food source for many terrestrial organisms including bats. Little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus, feed opportunistically on aquatic insects including Hexagenia. To determine if microcystin moves from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems via trophic transfer, we combined a dietary analysis with the quantification of microcystin in bat livers and feces. In June 2014, coincident with the local Hexagenia emergence, bat feces were collected from underneath a maternity roost near Little Traverse Lake (Leelanau County, Michigan, USA). Insects in the diet were identified via molecular analyses of fecal pellets from the roost and from individual bats. Livers and feces were collected from 19 female M. lucifugus, and the concentrations of microcystin in these liver tissues and feces were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We show that the majority of the bats’ diets consisted of aquatic insects and that microcystin was detected in high concentrations (up to 129.9 μg/kg dw) in the bat feces by ELISA. Histopathological examination of three bat livers with the highest concentrations of microcystin showed no evidence of phycotoxicosis, indicating that M. lucifugus may not be immediately affected by the ingestion of microcystin. Future work could examine whether bats suffer delayed physiological effects from ingestion of microcystin.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.cfxpnvx75
Description of the data and file structure
These sequences are invertebrate sequences obtained from Myotis lucifugus feces to determine the bats’ diets. The primers from Zeale. Et al. 2011 were used to isolate DNA fragments from mitochondrial COI. Resulting sequences (with no primers) are 130-158 bp long. Sequences were trimmed to maintain quality.
Files and variables
File: DietResults02212022.txt
Description: This file shows the taxonomic identification of each sequence.
Variables
- Sequence_ID: The sequence identifier that comes from a unique clone.
- Organism: The organism that the sequences were identified as.
- isolate: refers to the specific clone that the sequence was isolated from
- Isolation source: refers to where this clone was isolated from (all should be feces from Myotis lucifugus)
- Country: indicates the country where the samples came from (USA)
File: CorrectSeqs2202022.fasta
Description: Fasta file containing the sequences for each clone (which correspond to Sequence_ID).
Code/software
Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet reader, Geneious, or a text editor to open the fasta files
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- NA
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Data was generated by the authors
