Eavesdropping on the echolocation and social calls of bats

Fenton, M. Brock

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2907.2003.00019.x

Cited by 153 publications

(130 citation statements)

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“…We then manually identified bat calls to species using a combination of call characteristics, such as minimum frequency (F-min) and call duration, slope, and shape (Corben 2002;Lausen et al 2014 ciliolabrum, M. evotis, or M. lucifugus. We used the presence of "feeding buzzes", segments of quickly repeating pulses characteristic of an individual locating and closing in on prey to identify foraging by bats (Fenton 2003). …”

Section: Acoustic Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental correlates and energetics of winter flight by bats in southern Alberta, Canada

et al. 2016

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Winter activity of bats is common, yet poorly understood. Other studies suggest a relationship between winter activity and ambient temperature, particularly temperature at sunset.We recorded echolocation calls to determine correlates of hourly bat-activity in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. We documented bat activity in temperatures as low as -10.4°C.We observed big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1796)) flying at colder temperatures than species of Myotis bats (genus Myotis (Kaup 1829). We show that temperature and wind are important predictors of winter activity by E. fuscus and Myotis, and that Myotis may also use changes in barometric pressure to cue activity. In the absence of foraging opportunity, we suggest these environmental factors relate to heat loss and thus the energetic cost of flight. To understand the energetic consequences of bat flight in cold temperatures, we estimated energy expenditure during winter flights of E. fuscus and Myotis lucifugus using species-specific parameters. We estimated that winter flight uses considerable fat stores and that flight thermogenesis could mitigate energetic costs by 20% or more. We also show that temperature-dependent interspecific differences in winter activity likely stem from differences between species in heat loss and potential for activity-thermoregulatory heat substitution. IntroductionDuring hibernation, metabolic rate (MR) and body temperature (T b ), are decreased for days to weeks (Ruf and Geiser 2015). Hibernating animals save considerable energy and can survive on limited resources (i.e., body fat or cached food) for extended periods, up to months at a time (Humphries et al. 2003). Benefits of hibernation are obvious (Geiser 2004;Geiser and Brigham 2012) but there are associated costs, such as suppressed molecular synthesis (Lillegraven et al. 1987), ceased or delayed reproduction (Racey 1969; Barnes et al. 1986), and immunosuppression (Bouma et al. 2010). For these reasons and likely others, nearly all hibernating mammals arouse periodically (Willis 1982; French 1985), ostensibly to excrete metabolic wastes (Baumber et al. 1971), mount immune responses (Burton and Reichman 1999), mate (Thomas et al. 1979), eat (Humphries et al. 2001), and possibly drink (Thomas and Cloutier 1992;Thomas and Geiser 1997; Ben-Hamo et al. 2013).Much of what we know about arousals and winter activity of temperate-zone bats comes from research on caverniculous species. In eastern North America, bats often roost in large groups in sizeable, humid, thermally-stable hibernacula (Webb et al. 1996;Perry 2012). Most activities typical of arousals occur within the hibernacula; caves and mines allow flight within hibernacula and may contain open water sources and hibernating insects that can be consumed (Swanson and Evans 1936;Rysgaard 1942). Opportunistic mating is also possible with mixedsex groups typically found in cave hibernacula (Thomas et al. 1979).Bats are also active outside of hibernacula for reasons poorly understood. Early ...

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Section: Acoustic Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental correlates and energetics of winter flight by bats in southern Alberta, Canada

et al. 2016

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“…Social calls include mating calls, alarm calls, territorial calls, and food calls (Wilkinson, 1995) and can aid in finding patchily distributed food resources (Wilkinson, 1992;Safi and Kerth, 2007) and roosts (Ruczyński et al, 2007(Ruczyński et al, , 2009). In contrast, echolocation calls are used to gain information about the environment (Fenton, 2003). Because echo location calls can be intercepted by other bats, they also can serve a communication function, as in the case of eavesdropping (e.g., Barclay, 1982;Balcombe and Fenton, 1988;Gillam, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to echolocation calls, bats produce social calls which differ from echolocation calls in structure and function (Fenton, 2003). Social calls are usually longer in duration and lower in frequency than echolocation calls and thus, are more effective at longer distances (Pfalzer and Kusch, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra- and Interspecific Responses to Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) Social Calls

Loeb

Britzke

2010

Acta Chiropterologica

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Bats respond to the calls of conspecifics as well as to calls of other species; however, few studies have attempted to quantify these responses or understand the functions of these calls. We tested the response of Rafinesque's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) to social calls as a possible method to increase capture success and to understand the function of social calls. We also tested if calls of bats within the range of the previously designated subspecies differed, if the responses of Rafinesque's big-eared bats varied with geographic origin of the calls, and if other species responded to the calls of C. rafinesquii. We recorded calls of Rafinesque's big-eared bats at two colony roost sites in South Carolina, USA. Calls were recorded while bats were in the roosts and as they exited. Playback sequences for each site were created by copying typical pulses into the playback file. Two mist nets were placed approximately 50-500 m from known roost sites; the net with the playback equipment served as the Experimental net and the one without the equipment served as the Control net. Call structures differed significantly between the Mountain and Coastal Plains populations with calls from the Mountains being of higher frequency and longer duration. Ten of 11 Rafinesque's big-eared bats were caught in the Control nets and, 13 of 19 bats of other species were captured at Experimental nets even though overall bat activity did not differ significantly between Control and Experimental nets. Our results suggest that Rafinesque's big-eared bats are not attracted to conspecifics' calls and that these calls may act as an intraspecific spacing mechanism during foraging.

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“…High flight and strong low frequency calls (thus propagating long distances; Zbinden and Zingg, 1986) should facilitate eavesdropping in this species. Also the large number of social buzzes produced when several T. teniotis forage in the same airspace (Fenton, 2003) may advertise the discovery of a concentrated patch of food to conspecifics (Wilkinson and Boughman, 1998).…”

Section: Spatial Foraging Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging Behaviour and Habitat use by the European Free-Tailed BatTadarida teniotis

Marques

Rainho

Carapuço³

et al. 2004

Acta Chiropterologica

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Eavesdropping on the echolocation and social calls of bats

Cited by 153 publications

References 72 publications

Environmental correlates and energetics of winter flight by bats in southern Alberta, Canada

Environmental correlates and energetics of winter flight by bats in southern Alberta, Canada

Intra- and Interspecific Responses to Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) Social Calls

Foraging Behaviour and Habitat use by the European Free-Tailed BatTadarida teniotis

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