Foraging, echolocation and audition in bats

Neuweiler, Gerhard

doi:10.1007/bf00455897

Cited by 179 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, their orientation signals have adapted to auto-communicate about the surrounding and therefore, in theory, only partially qualify for identification purposes. Nevertheless, bats occupy a variety of ecological niches and have evolved specific features in morphology, physiology and behaviour (Neuweiler 1984), which endorse the use of echolocation signals as species specific markers. We hypothesize, that acoustic species identification should be feasible.…”

Section: Signal Variancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergetic pattern recognition approach

Obrist

Boesch

Flückiger

2004

Mamm

173

122

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Pattern recognition algorithms offer a promising approach to recognizing bat species by their echolocation calls. Automated systems like synergetic classifiers may contribute significantly to operator-independent species identification in the field. However, it necessitates the assembling of an appropriate database of reference calls, a task far from trivial. We present data on species specific flexibility in call parameters of all Swiss bat species (except

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Section: Signal Variancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergetic pattern recognition approach

Obrist

Boesch

Flückiger

2004

Mamm

173

122

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“…All microbats use echolocation to orient themselves during foraging (Neuweiler 1984). "Eavesdropping" on echolocation calls has been described in several species (Balcombe and Fenton 1988;Fenton 2003), and a few empirical studies have investigated in- Figure 1: According to the maximum parsimony reconstruction, the ancestral state of the social organization of temperate zone male bats was solitary life.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparative Analyses Suggest That Information Transfer Promoted Sociality in Male Bats in the Temperate Zone

Safi

Kerth

2007

The American Naturalist

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Comparative analyses suggest that information transfer promoted sociality in male bats in the temperate zone Comparative analyses suggest that information transfer promoted sociality in male bats in the temperate zone AbstractThe evolution of sociality is a central theme in evolutionary biology. The vast majority of bats are social, which has been explained in terms of the benefits of communal breeding. However, the causes for segregated male groups remain unknown. In a comparative study, we tested whether diet and morphological adaptations to specific foraging styles, two factors known to influence the occurrence of information transfer, can predict male sociality. Our results suggest that the species most likely to benefit frominformation transfer -namely, those preying on ephemeral insects and with morphological adaptations to feeding in open habitat -are more likely to form male groups. Our findings also indicate that solitary life was the ancestral state of males and sociality evolved in several lineages. Beyond their significance for explaining the existence of male groups in bats, our findings highlight the importance of information transfer in the evolution of animal sociality. Online enhancements: appendix, data file.abstract: The evolution of sociality is a central theme in evolutionary biology. The vast majority of bats are social, which has been explained in terms of the benefits of communal breeding. However, the causes for segregated male groups remain unknown. In a comparative study, we tested whether diet and morphological adaptations to specific foraging styles, two factors known to influence the occurrence of information transfer, can predict male sociality. Our results suggest that the species most likely to benefit from information transfer-namely, those preying on ephemeral insects and with morphological adaptations to feeding in open habitat-are more likely to form male groups. Our findings also indicate that solitary life was the ancestral state of males and sociality evolved in several lineages. Beyond their significance for explaining the existence of male groups in bats, our findings highlight the importance of information transfer in the evolution of animal sociality.

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“…Both horizontal and vertical observations at each station was taken at an interval of 2m, 4m, 6m, 8m, and 10m with horizontal width of 2m both on right and left side of the observation points. Bat echolocation calls consist of repetitive patterns commonly referred to as pulses (Aldridge & Rautenbach, 1987), calls (Neuweiler, 1984;Jones, 1994) or sequences. The bat activity (measured by the number of sequences) was monitored using focal sampling and continuous sampling (Altman, 1974) in the four distinct locations (wadies) in the Negev Desert during the night.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of biotic and abiotic factors on bat activity in the Negev Desert, Israel

Mukherjee¹,

Korine²

2002

Zoos Print J.

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The effect of biotic factors (vegetation cover and insect abundance) and abiotic factors (ambient temperatures, cloud cover and wind strength) on bat activity was studied during May 2001 in four different sized wadies around Sede Bequer of the Negev Desert in Israel. Anabat detector II was used to detect the activity of bats following both focal and continuous techniques. Horizontal and vertical vegetation covers were estimated at subjective index. Arthropods were counted at four stations within each wadi, temperatures were measured with a thermometer at sampling sites, and cloud cover and wind speed were determined by a subjective index. Even though there is weak relationship between vegetation and bat activity, there seems to be a trend between them. Strong correlation was demonstrated between flying insects and bat activity from the continuous recording (R 2 = 0.92, F-test = 22.23, P = 0.042) confirming our main predictions but no relationship was found between the focal sampling of bat activity and arthropod abundance. Cloud cover and wind speed did not affect the bat activity but temperature was found to reduce the flight of a flying insect and hence the activity of bats. Our experience from this study reflects the efficacy of using continuous acoustic monitoring over the focal sampling in detecting bat activity.

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Foraging, echolocation and audition in bats

Cited by 179 publications

References 22 publications

Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergetic pattern recognition approach

Variability in echolocation call design of 26 Swiss bat species: consequences, limits and options for automated field identification with a synergetic pattern recognition approach

Comparative Analyses Suggest That Information Transfer Promoted Sociality in Male Bats in the Temperate Zone

The influence of biotic and abiotic factors on bat activity in the Negev Desert, Israel

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