Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

Carter, Gerald G.; Leffer, Lauren

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138430

Cited by 63 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Furthermore, metabarcoding confirmed the arthropods to be ectoparasitic taxa when DNA reference databases were sufficient to identify DNA to low taxonomic resolution. Our high observed frequency and geographically widespread nature of this phenomenon are unsurprising given that common vampire bats have high levels of infection by ectoparasites and engage in self‐ and allo‐grooming (Patterson, Dick, & Dittmar, ; Carter & Leffer, ; reviewed in Greenhall et al., ). Detected arthropods are therefore likely ectoparasites ingested during grooming (Aguirre, Herrel, & Van Damme, ; Greenhall, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Using DNA metabarcoding for simultaneous inference of common vampire bat diet and population structure

Bohmann

Gopalakrishnan

Nielsen

et al. 2018

Molecular Ecology Resources

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Metabarcoding diet analysis has become a valuable tool in animal ecology; however, co‐amplified predator sequences are not generally used for anything other than to validate predator identity. Exemplified by the common vampire bat, we demonstrate the use of metabarcoding to infer predator population structure alongside diet assessments. Growing populations of common vampire bats impact human, livestock and wildlife health in Latin America through transmission of pathogens, such as lethal rabies viruses. Techniques to determine large‐scale variation in vampire bat diet and bat population structure would empower locality‐ and species‐specific projections of disease transmission risks. However, previously used methods are not cost‐effective and efficient for large‐scale applications. Using bloodmeal and faecal samples from common vampire bats from coastal, Andean and Amazonian regions of Peru, we showcase metabarcoding as a scalable tool to assess vampire bat population structure and feeding preferences. Dietary metabarcoding was highly effective, detecting vertebrate prey in 93.2% of the samples. Bats predominantly preyed on domestic animals, but fed on tapirs at one Amazonian site. In addition, we identified arthropods in 9.3% of samples, likely reflecting consumption of ectoparasites. Using the same data, we document mitochondrial geographic population structure in the common vampire bat in Peru. Such simultaneous inference of vampire bat diet and population structure can enable new insights into the interplay between vampire bat ecology and disease transmission risks. Importantly, the methodology can be incorporated into metabarcoding diet studies of other animals to couple information on diet and population structure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Using DNA metabarcoding for simultaneous inference of common vampire bat diet and population structure

Bohmann

Gopalakrishnan

Nielsen

et al. 2018

Molecular Ecology Resources

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“…This 'excuse principle' has been demonstrated in cooperatively mobbing pied flycatchers [19] and cooperatively breeding cichlid fish [20]. Finally, allogrooming in vampire bats is more frequent than in other bats [21] and linked to food sharing both by occurrence [7] and a common neuroendocrine mechanism [22]. Allogrooming may therefore compensate for imbalances in food sharing, as shown in primates [23].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Testing alternative mechanisms for maintaining cooperation will therefore require carefully manipulating the cooperative value of specific partners while measuring cooperative investments across different partners (e.g. [21]). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social benefits of non-kin food sharing by female vampire bats

Carter

Wilkinson

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Regurgitations of blood among vampire bats appear to benefit both direct and indirect fitness. To maximize inclusive fitness, reciprocal food sharing should occur among close kin. Why then do females with kin roost-mates help non-kin? We tested the hypothesis that helping non-kin increases a bat's success at obtaining future donations by expanding its network of potential donors. On six occasions, we individually fasted 14 adult females and measured donations from 28 possible donors. Each female was fasted before, during and after a treatment period, when we prevented donations from past donors (including 10 close relatives) by simultaneously fasting or removing them. This experiment was designed to detect partner switching and yielded three main results. First, females received less food when we prevented donations from a past donor versus a control bat. Donors within a group are therefore not interchangeable. Second, the treatment increased the variance in donors' contributions to food received by subjects, suggesting the possibility of alternative responses to a partner's inability to reciprocate. Finally, bats that fed more non-kin in previous years had more donors and received more food during the treatment. These results indicate that a bat can expand its network of possible donors by helping non-kin.

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“…Nose‐rubbing in wild Myotis bechsteinii often occurs before reciprocal grooming (Kerth et al, ). Likewise, reciprocal grooming is common among vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) before they share food (Carter & Wilkinson, ), and they are known to perform reciprocal‐grooming behaviour more often than other social species (Carter & Leffer, ).…”

Section: How Do Bats Communicate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social communication in bats

2018

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Bats represent one of the most diverse mammalian orders, not only in terms of species numbers, but also in their ecology and life histories. Many species are known to use ephemeral and/or unpredictable resources that require substantial investment to find and defend, and also engage in social interactions, thus requiring significant levels of social coordination. To accomplish these tasks, bats must be able to communicate; there is now substantial evidence that demonstrates the complexity of bat communication and the varied ways in which bats solve some of the problems associated with their unique life histories. However, while the study of communication in bats is rapidly growing, it still lags behind other taxa. Here we provide a comprehensive overview of communication in bats, from the reasons why they communicate to the diversity and application of different signal modalities. The most widespread form of communication is the transmission of a signaller's characteristics, such as species identity, sex, individual identity, group membership, social status and body condition, and because many species of bats can rely little on vision due to their nocturnal lifestyles, it is assumed that sound and olfaction are particularly important signalling modes. For example, research suggests that secretions from specialized glands, often in combination with urine and saliva, are responsible for species recognition in several species. These olfactory signals may also convey information about sex and colony membership. Olfaction may be used in combination with sound, particularly in species that emit constant frequency (CF) echolocation calls, to recognize conspecifics from heterospecifics, yet their simple structure and high frequency do not allow much information of individual identity to be conveyed over long distances. By contrast, social calls may encode a larger number of cues of individual identity, and their lower frequencies increase their range of detection. Social calls are also known to deter predators, repel competitors from foraging patches, attract group mates to roost sites, coordinate foraging activities, and are used during courtship. In addition to sound, visual displays such as wing flapping or hovering may be used during courtship, and swarming around roost sites may serve as a visual cue of roost location. However, visual communication in bats still remains a poorly studied signal modality. Finally, the most common form of tactile communication known in bats is social grooming, which may be used to signal reproductive condition, but also to facilitate and strengthen cooperative interactions. Overall, this review demonstrates the rapid advances made in the study of bat social communication during recent years, and also identifies topics that require further study, particularly those that may allow us to understand adaptation to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

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Social Grooming in Bats: Are Vampire Bats Exceptional?

Cited by 63 publications

References 82 publications

Using DNA metabarcoding for simultaneous inference of common vampire bat diet and population structure

Using DNA metabarcoding for simultaneous inference of common vampire bat diet and population structure

Social benefits of non-kin food sharing by female vampire bats

Social communication in bats

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