Echo feedback mediates noise-induced vocal modifications in flying bats

Luo, Jinhong; Lu, Manman; Luo, Jianxun; Moss, Cynthia F.

doi:10.1007/s00359-022-01585-8

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 47 publications

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“…4 ). The steepest decreases in SLs were found later in the approach in noise compared to during silent controls, which is like the pattern found in Pratt’s roundleaf bats ( Hipposideros pratti ) where it is suggested that echo feedback mediates SL adjustments to range [ 64 ]. Since the bats also decreased SLs with range in noisy conditions, we next hypothesised that in a lit environment with poor ENRs, the bats would dispense with range-dependent adjustments in SL when visual information could replace echoic information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Daubenton’s bats maintain stereotypical echolocation behaviour and a lombard response during target interception in light

Uebel,

Pedersen,

Beedholm

et al. 2024

BMC Zool

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Most bats hunt insects on the wing at night using echolocation as their primary sensory modality, but nevertheless maintain complex eye anatomy and functional vision. This raises the question of how and when insectivorous bats use vision during their largely nocturnal lifestyle. Here, we test the hypothesis that the small insectivorous bat, Myotis daubentonii, relies less on echolocation, or dispenses with it entirely, as visual cues become available during challenging acoustic noise conditions. We trained five wild-caught bats to land on a spherical target in both silence and when exposed to broad-band noise to decrease echo detectability, while light conditions were manipulated in both spectrum and intensity. We show that during noise exposure, the bats were almost three times more likely to use multiple attempts to solve the task compared to in silent controls. Furthermore, the bats exhibited a Lombard response of 0.18 dB/dBnoise and decreased call intervals earlier in their flight during masking noise exposures compared to in silent controls. Importantly, however, these adjustments in movement and echolocation behaviour did not differ between light and dark control treatments showing that small insectivorous bats maintain the same echolocation behaviour when provided with visual cues under challenging conditions for echolocation. We therefore conclude that bat echolocation is a hard-wired sensory system with stereotyped compensation strategies to both target range and masking noise (i.e. Lombard response) irrespective of light conditions. In contrast, the adjustments of call intervals and movement strategies during noise exposure varied substantially between individuals indicating a degree of flexibility that likely requires higher order processing and perhaps vocal learning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%