Daily and Seasonal Patterns of Singing by the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat, Tadarida brasiliensis

Smotherman, Michael; Bohn, Kirsten M.; Davis, Kaylee; Rogers, Kelly L.; Schwartz, Caroline

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-38953-0_9

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…The variation in singing effort across the six month dry season supports seasonality of this behavior, aligning with previous observations (McWilliam, 1987 ; Vaughan, 1976 ). For songbirds and singing mammals (Brenowitz, 2004 ; Coudrat et al, 2015 ; Smith et al, 1997 ; Smotherman, Bohn, et al, 2016 ; Smotherman, Knörnschild, et al, 2016 ), singing effort is seasonal and regulated by environmental cues such as temperature and daylight, and subsequent physiological changes such as testosterone levels (Nelson et al, 1990 ). Additional variation in singing output can relate to male fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Primarily nocturnal, bats rely heavily on acoustic signals for survival, including echolocation to navigate and locate prey, and various social calls for behavioral interactions (Altringham & Fenton, 2003 ). Their broad communication repertoires include singing, which has been observed in five families (Smotherman et al, 2016 ; Smotherman et al, 2016 ). Although there are over 1400 species of bats (Simmons & Cirranello, 2020 ), we know very little about how bats use vocal communication, including singing, as a spacing mechanism or to defend resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Singing strategies are linked to perch use on foraging territories in heart‐nosed bats

Smarsh

Long

Smotherman

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Acoustic communication allows animals to coordinate and optimize resource utilization in space. Cardioderma cor , the heart‐nosed bat, is one of the few species of bats known to sing during nighttime foraging. Previous research found that heart‐nosed bats react aggressively to song playback, supporting the territorial defense hypothesis of singing in this species. We further investigated the territorial defense hypothesis from an ecological standpoint, which predicts that singing should be associated with exclusive areas containing a resource, by tracking 14 individuals nightly during the dry seasons in Tanzania. We quantified the singing behavior of individuals at all perches used throughout the night. Using home range analysis tools, we quantified overall use, night ranges and singing ranges, as well as areas used in early and later time periods at night. Males sang back and forth from small ( = 3.48 ± 2.71 ha), largely exclusive areas that overlapped with overall night ranges used for gleaning prey. Individuals varied in singing effort; however, all sang significantly more as night progressed. Subsequently, areas used earlier at night and overall use areas were both larger than singing areas. Individuals varied in singing strategies. Some males sang for long periods in particular trees and had smaller core areas, while others moved frequently among singing trees. The most prolific singers used more perches overall. Our results support the hypothesis that acoustic communication repertoires evolved in support of stable foraging territory advertisement and defense in some bats.

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