ArticleGlobal change biology2026
Body Size Decline in an Endangered Bat Is Associated With Climate Change at a Continental Scale but Varies by Phenophase and Region.
Article in Global change biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
At high latitudes, hibernating species must replenish their energy reserves within a 4-6 month active season. During this window, insectivorous bats at higher latitudes must consume sufficient arthropod prey to support reproduction and migration, despite suboptimal weather and prey abundance that varies across time and space. Local declines in body size of endangered little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) suggest ongoing nutritional stress associated with limited prey availability and inclement weather. We tested the hypothesis that climate change has caused nutritional stress in bats at a continental scale. We analyzed morphometric data from > 21,000 bats from five regions across Canada and northern Montana over 8-16 years. We used forearm length as a proxy for access to nutrition during development, and body mass as a proxy for recent energy reserves. Average adult and juvenile forearm length declined over time in most study regions, although the magnitude of the estimated declines varied geographically. We found that the interactive effects of rainfall and temperature on reproductive females exerted a carry-over effect on juvenile body size, as juvenile forearm length was shorter, on average, in years when mothers experienced poor weather before and after hibernation. Although changes in adult body mass were geographically widespread, the drivers, direction, and magnitude of these trends varied among phenophases, demographic groups, and study regions. This result implies the effects of other, stochastic factors, such as arthropod abundance or wildfires, although these cannot be directly tested with the available data. Our study illustrates that directional changes in average temperature and rainfall can affect the energetics and development of little brown bats. Ongoing nutritional stress associated with climate change may impact the viability of bat populations that are also threatened by white-nose disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.