Body temperature, evaporative water loss and resting metabolic rate data for six southern African bats

1. The microsites that animals occupy during the rest phase of their circadian activity cycle influence their physiology and behaviour, but relatively few studies have examined correlations between interspecific variation in thermal physiology and roost microclimate. Among bats, there is some evidence that species exposed to high roost temperatures (Troost) possess greater heat tolerance and evaporative cooling capacity, but the small number of species for which both thermal physiology and roost microclimate data exist mean that the generality of this pattern remains unclear.

2. Here, we test the hypothesis that bat heat tolerance and evaporative cooling capacity have co-evolved with roost preferences. We predicted that species occupying roosts poorly buffered from high outside environmental temperature exhibit higher heat tolerance and evaporative cooling capacity compared to species inhabiting buffered roosts in which Troost remains well below outside conditions.

3. We used flo...