Duration of courtship displays corresponds to social status in male greater sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata)

Knörnschild, Mirjam; Fulmer, Andrew Goldklank; Helversen, Otto von

doi:10.1139/z10-028

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Several groups of greater sac-winged bats ( Saccopteryx bilineata ) also live on the outside of the same buildings. This species departs earlier and forages nearby, is highly maneuverable and able to hover [ 41 ], and is also attracted by the distress calls of conspecifics (unpublished data). We therefore also tested if S .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

et al. 2015

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Many birds and mammals produce distress calls when captured. Bats often approach speakers playing conspecific distress calls, which has led to the hypothesis that bat distress calls promote cooperative mobbing. An alternative explanation is that approaching bats are selfishly assessing predation risk. Previous playback studies on bat distress calls involved species with highly maneuverable flight, capable of making close passes and tight circles around speakers, which can look like mobbing. We broadcast distress calls recorded from the velvety free-tailed bat, Molossus molossus, a fast-flying aerial-hawker with relatively poor maneuverability. Based on their flight behavior, we predicted that, in response to distress call playbacks, M. molossus would make individual passing inspection flights but would not approach in groups or approach within a meter of the distress call source. By recording responses via ultrasonic recording and infrared video, we found that M. molossus, and to a lesser extent Saccopteryx bilineata, made more flight passes during distress call playbacks compared to noise. However, only the more maneuverable S. bilineata made close approaches to the speaker, and we found no evidence of mobbing in groups. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that single bats approached distress calls simply to investigate the situation. These results suggest that approaches by bats to distress calls should not suffice as clear evidence for mobbing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

et al. 2015

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“…A combination of olfactory-acoustical-visual signals was never observed to be employed by females in this study. The associated behaviors, salting and hovering, have previously been noted to be largely the domain of males (Voigt and von Helversen 1999;Voigt et al 2008;Knörnschild et al 2010), even though females occasionally engage in hovering (Strauss et al 2010) and salting as well, but without accompanying vocalizations (M.K., personal observation).…”

Section: Social Distance and Signaling Modalitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Intracolonial social distance, signaling modality and association choice in the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata)

Fulmer

Knörnschild

2011

J Ethol

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Understanding patterns and motivations for social spacing greatly illuminates the structure and internal dynamics of given groups or social systems. The highly social, polygynous greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata, represents an excellent model for social spacing analysis, since the choice of individual roost-sites within a day-roost constitutes an enduring, often repeated decision about relative proximity to conspecifics. Day-roost colonies consist of one or multiple harem groups, each with several females and a single male. Additionally, non-harem males without females may be present. A social-distancetime-budget metric revealed that harem males, females, and non-harem males differed significantly in their respective spatial associations while roosting. Harem males and females were most closely associated, with harem males located at the center of harems instead of at the borders. Non-harem males associated significantly closer with one another than with harem females that they were trying to access. The signaling modality mediating social interactions depended on the respective social distances between communicating bats. Our results suggest a concentric social organization based around harem males, which may select roost sites in closest possible proximity to females to enhance courtship signal strength. This constitutes an interesting deviation from the normative form of harem maintenance, patrolling borders, in mammals.

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“…Many animals advertise to mates and compete with rivals by performing physical displays that incorporate exaggerated gestures and ostentatious body movements (Figure 1). Biologists have spent decades documenting examples of such behaviour in various birds (Miles, Cheng, & Fuxjager, 2017;Prum, 1990), reptiles (Martins, 1994;Vliet, 1989), fish (Masonjones & Lewis, 1996;Tsuboi & Sakai, 2016), mammals (Knörnschild, Fulmer, & Von Helversen, 2010;Pelletier, Hogg, & Festa-Bianchet, 2004) and invertebrates (Delaney, Roberts, & Uetz, 2007;Murai & Backwell, 2006). The widespread occurrence of physical displays suggests that they inherently act as effective social signals, and are thus favoured by sexual selection to facilitate communication and/or advertisement among conspecifics (Byers, Hebets, & Podos, 2010;Fuxjager & Schlinger, 2015;Mowles & Ord, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High‐speed displays encoding motor skill trigger elevated territorial aggression in downy woodpeckers

Schuppe

Fuxjager

2017

Functional Ecology

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Abstract1. Many species perform social displays that incorporate complex body movements.However, the reason why such exaggerated behavioural signals evolve in the first place is unclear.2. Recent work posits that physical displays arise in part because they showcase an animal's motor skill-that is, the ability to produce challenging motor acts with great coordination, precision and/or speed. Support for this idea is largely correlational, with few studies attempting to manipulate metrics of motor skill to assess their effect on physical display efficacy. Here, we address this issue in the downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens).Individuals of this species compete for territories through the performance of drums, which are complex displays produced by rapidly hammering the bill against a resonate surface at rates of 16 hits/s. This display is a whole-body endeavour, and its production relies on the ability to swiftly oscillate the head forward and backward at fraction-of-a-second periods.4. Using a series of playback studies, we expose resident birds to experimentally engineered drums that reflect putative fine-scale differences in the motor command of the head and neck. We show that resident individuals respond more aggressively to drums characterized by a cadence with a 9-ms faster beat speed. These residents even modulate their own drum speed to resemble this high-performance stimulus, although they often fail to reach it. Residents also appear to appraise drum acceleration by listening to the time intervals between successive beats in a single drum, while tracking how these time intervals change as the signal progresses. 5. Our data support a connection between motor skill and the effectiveness of a physical display produced through elaborate body movement. We, therefore, suspect that motor skill is adaptive and evolves in response to selection by competition for effective drum displays. K E Y W O R D Sdowny woodpecker, evolution, gestural signal, motor skill, territorial behaviourThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Duration of courtship displays corresponds to social status in male greater sac-winged bats (Saccopteryx bilineata)

Cited by 5 publications

References 39 publications

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

Distress Calls of a Fast-Flying Bat (Molossus molossus) Provoke Inspection Flights but Not Cooperative Mobbing

Intracolonial social distance, signaling modality and association choice in the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata)

High‐speed displays encoding motor skill trigger elevated territorial aggression in downy woodpeckers

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