Syllable acoustics, temporal patterns, and call composition vary with behavioral context in Mexican free-tailed bats

Bohn, Kirsten M.; Schmidt-French, Barbara A.; Sean, T.; Pollak, George D.

doi:10.1121/1.2953314

Cited by 118 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In our study, the degree of order in which some call types were combined into bouts suggests that humpback whales follow rules for how calls are combined, at least to some extent. Thus, the rules governing call order within humpback whale call bouts may have similarities to the rudimentary syntax-like rules discovered in the social call systems of a number of other species (e.g., titi monkey, Robinson, 1979;Mexican chickadee, Ficken et al, 1994;killer whale, Riesch et al, 2008; Mexican free-tailed bat, Bohn et al, 2008). However, the combination of call types within bouts appeared to be somewhat open ended and more flexible than found in many of these species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…In some species, research has suggested that an entire sequence of calls is the unit of perception rather than the individual calls that make up the sequence (e.g., cotton-top tamarin, Ghazanfar et al, 2001). Bohn et al (2008), for example, found that Mexican free-tailed bats convey meaning in the stereotyped nature of their call sequences rather than in the individual call types, as calls were always found within bouts and in the same order. In contrast, the lack of stereotyped, predictable types of call bouts suggests that both the individual calls and how they were combined within bouts may have conveyed the information, rather than information being encoded only by the entire call bouts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Call bout-a sequence of calls that may have been of the same or different call types, in which calls were separated by no more than 3.9 s from another call (similar to a "Phrase" in humpback whale song or a "Bout" in bat acoustic research; Bohn et al, 2008). [See below for the determination of this bout end criterion (BEC).…”

Section: B Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The production of individual call types within a species' communication repertoire may be tightly constrained to specific social and behavioral contexts, with different call types conveying specific information, such as alarm calls, individual or group identity calls, or group foraging calls (e.g., Bohn et al, 2008). Calls presumably need to vary in structure to convey different information, leading to a number of different call types in a call repertoire.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to song displays, social calls are typically produced by both sexes, are produced as single calls or in short bouts, and function to communicate information both within and between social groups in a number of different contexts (Lynch, 1996). The structure, function, and complexity of social calls have been less well studied, but a number of species have been shown to combine a small set of call types into structured bouts of calls produced by one individual (e.g., titi monkey, Callicebus moloch, Robinson, 1979; Mexican chickadee, Poecile sclateri, Ficken et al, 1994; black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus; Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, Bohn et al, 2008) or more than one individual in call a) Electronic mail: mlrekdahl@gmail.com matching interactions (e.g., killer whales, Orcinus orca, Miller et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales

Rekdahl¹,

Dunlop²,

Goldizen³

et al. 2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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The use of stereotyped calls within structured bouts has been described for a number of species and may increase the information potential of call repertoires. Humpback whales produce a repertoire of social calls, although little is known about the complexity or function of these calls. In this study, digital acoustic tag recordings were used to investigate social call use within bouts, the use of bouts across different social contexts, and whether particular call type combinations were favored. Call order within bouts was investigated using call transition frequencies and information theory techniques. Call bouts were defined through analysis of inter-call intervals, as any calls within 3.9 s of each other. Bouts were produced significantly more when new whales joined a group compared to groups that did not change membership, and in groups containing multiple adults escorting a female and calf compared to adult only groups. Although social calls tended to be produced in bouts, there were few repeated bout types. However, the order in which most call types were produced within bouts was non-random and dependent on the preceding call type. These bouts appear to be at least partially governed by rules for how individual components are combined.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales

Rekdahl¹,

Dunlop²,

Goldizen³

et al. 2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Developmental experience alters information coding in auditory midbrain and forebrain neurons

Woolley

Hauber

Theunissen

2010

Developmental Neurobiology

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In songbirds, species identity and developmental experience shape vocal behavior and behavioral responses to vocalizations. The interaction of species identity and developmental experience may also shape the coding properties of sensory neurons. We tested whether responses of auditory midbrain and forebrain neurons to songs differed between species and between groups of conspecific birds with different developmental exposure to song. We also compared responses of individual neurons to conspecific and heterospecific songs. Zebra and Bengalese finches that were raised and tutored by conspecific birds, and zebra finches that were cross-tutored by Bengalese finches were studied. Single-unit responses to zebra and Bengalese finch songs were recorded and analyzed by calculating mutual information, response reliability, mean spike rate, fluctuations in time-varying spike rate, distributions of time-varying spike rates, and neural discrimination of individual songs. Mutual information quantifies a response’s capacity to encode information about a stimulus. In midbrain and forebrain neurons, mutual information was significantly higher in normal zebra finch neurons than in Bengalese finch and cross-tutored zebra finch neurons, but not between Bengalese finch and cross-tutored zebra finch neurons. Information rate differences were largely due to spike rate differences. Mutual information did not differ between responses to conspecific and heterospecific songs. Therefore, neurons from normal zebra finches encoded more information about songs than did neurons from other birds, but conspecific and heterospecific songs were encoded equally. Neural discrimination of songs and mutual information were highly correlated. Results demonstrate that developmental exposure to vocalizations shapes the information coding properties of songbird auditory neurons.

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Development of echolocation calls and neural selectivity for echolocation calls in the pallid bat

Razak

Fuzessery

2014

Developmental Neurobiology

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Studies of birdsongs and neural selectivity for songs have provided important insights into principles of concurrent behavioral and auditory system development. Relatively little is known about mammalian auditory system development in terms of vocalizations, or other behaviorally relevant sounds. This review suggests echolocating bats are suitable mammalian model systems to understand development of auditory behaviors. The simplicity of echolocation calls with known behavioral relevance and strong neural selectivity provides a platform to address how natural experience shapes cortical receptive field (RF) mechanisms. We summarize recent studies in the pallid bat that followed development of echolocation calls and cortical processing of such calls. We also discuss similar studies in the mustached bat for comparison. These studies suggest: (1) there are different developmental sensitive periods for different acoustic features of the same vocalization. The underlying basis is the capacity for some components of the RF to be modified independent of others. Some RF computations and maps involved in call processing are present even before the cochlea is mature and well before use of echolocation in flight. Others develop over a much longer time course. (2) Normal experience is required not just for refinement, but also for maintenance, of response properties that develop in an experience independent manner. (3) Experience utilizes millisecond range changes in timing of inhibitory and excitatory RF components as substrates to shape vocalization selectivity. We suggest that bat species and call diversity provide a unique opportunity to address developmental constraints in the evolution of neural mechanisms of vocalization processing.

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Syllable acoustics, temporal patterns, and call composition vary with behavioral context in Mexican free-tailed bats

Cited by 118 publications

References 52 publications

Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales

Non-song social call bouts of migrating humpback whales

Developmental experience alters information coding in auditory midbrain and forebrain neurons

Development of echolocation calls and neural selectivity for echolocation calls in the pallid bat

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