Fruit-feeding behaviour and use of olfactory cues by the fruit batRousettus leschenaulti: an experimental study

Tang, Zhonghua; Sheng, Liwen; Parsons, Stuart; Cao, Min; Liu, Bing; Zhang, Shu Y.

doi:10.1007/bf03194224

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Although previous work demonstrated that bats are able to detect and discriminate concentration gradients to localize odor rewards ( Laska, 1990a , b ), this is the first study to specifically quantify the locomotor patterns and olfactory search strategies of bats. Similar to previous research demonstrating the importance of olfactory cues in other echolocating and non-echolocating bat species ( Hodgkison et al, 2007 ; Korine and Kalko, 2005 ; Parolin et al, 2015 ; Tang et al, 2007 ; Thies et al, 1998 ; Von Helversen et al, 2000 ), northern yellow-shouldered bats were able to localize an odor reward using olfaction under experimental conditions that controlled for echolocation cues. By recording the bats’ movements in an open-field-type behavioral setup (as opposed to a Y-maze or other choice paradigm), we were able to exploit this behavior and quantitatively describe the search routes bats followed while localizing an odor reward.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Olfactory tracking strategies in a neotropical fruit bat

Brokaw

Smotherman

2021

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Many studies have characterized olfactory-tracking behaviors in animals, and it has been proposed that search strategies may be generalizable across a wide range of species. Olfaction is important for fruit and nectar feeding bats, but it is uncertain if existing olfactory search models can predict the strategies of flying mammals that emit echolocation pulses through their nose. Quantitative assessments of how well echolocating bats track and localize odor sources are lacking, so we developed a behavioral assay to characterize the olfactory detection and tracking behavior of crawling northern yellow-shouldered bats (Sturnira parvidens), a common Neotropical frugivore. Trained bats were presented with a choice between control and banana odor-infused solutions in a series of experiments that confirmed bats are able to locate a reward based on odor cues alone and examined the effect of odor concentration on olfactory search behaviors. Decision distance (the distance from which bats made their change in direction before directly approaching the target) was distinctly bimodal, with an observed peak that coincided with an inflection point in the odor concentration gradient. We observed two main search patterns which are consistent with both serial sampling and learned route-following strategies. These results support the hypothesis that bats can combine klinotaxis with spatial awareness of experimental conditions to locate odor sources, similar to terrestrial mammals. Contrary to existing models, bats did not display prominent head scanning behaviors during their final approach, which may reflect a constraint arising from fixation of the sonar beam on target for echolocation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Olfactory tracking strategies in a neotropical fruit bat

Brokaw

Smotherman

2021

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…the olfactory tubercle responds to odors both at the population level and single-unit level, receiveing monosynaptic olfactory input from the olfactory bulb and the olfactory piriform cortex [9,14,26]. the two frugivorous bat species rely on olfactory cues to locate and distinguish their food, which mainly consist of ripe fruit [1, 23,33,34], while the three insectivorous bats capture prey by employing echolocation. recruitment of molecules such as transcription factors in the neural ensemble of the olfactory system, especially in areas that integrate olfactory information with other sensory information can be considered to be involved in the mechanisms involved in odor processing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

FoxP2and olfaction: Divergence ofFoxP2expression in olfactory tubercle between different feeding habit bats

Chen¹,

Wang

Jones³

et al. 2013

Acta Biologica Hungarica

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FoxP2 is a member of the winged helix/forkhead class of transcription factors. Despite FoxP2 is found to have particular relevance to speech and language, the role of this gene is broader and not yet fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the expression of FoxP2 in the brains of bats with different feeding habits (two frugivorous species and three insectivorous species). We found FoxP2 expression in the olfactory tubercle of frugivorous species is significantly higher than that in insectivorous species. Difference of FoxP2 expression was not observed within each of the frugivorous or insectivorous group. The diverse expression patterns in olfactory tubercle between two kinds of bats indicate FoxP2 has a close relation with olfactory tubercle associated functions, suggesting its important role in sensory integration within the olfactory tubercle and such a discrepancy of FoxP2 expression in olfactory tubercle may take responsibility for the different feeding behaviors of frugivorous and insectivorous bats.

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“…Both behaviours benefit from binocular vision with higher resolution in the frontal visual field (see also Coimbra et al, 2017b). The high resolution in the temporal area might also help to control hovering flight and to position the tongue in flower tubes during rarer events of nectar feeding in the two smaller species [Nathan et al, 2005;Tang et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2014]. Our estimations of spatial resolution also indicate that the larger P. giganteus that lands on branches, some distance from the fruits, can resolve objects from a larger distance than the two smaller species.…”

Section: Behavioural Relevance Of Spatial Resolution and Retinal Topo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Retinal Ganglion Cell Topography and Spatial Resolution in Three Indian Pteropodid Bats

et al. 2022

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Pteropodidae is the only phytophagous bat family that predominantly depends on visual and olfactory cues for orientation and foraging. During daytime, pteropodids of different species roost in sites with varying light exposure. Pteropodids have larger eyes relative to body size than insectivorous bats. Retinal topography has been studied in less than 10% of the approximately 200 pteropodid species, a behavioural estimation of spatial resolution is available only for Pteropus giganteus, and little is known about the relationship between their roost site preference and visual ecology. We present retinal ganglion cell topographic maps and anatomical estimates of spatial resolution in three southern Indian pteropodid species with different roosting preferences. Ganglion cell densities are between 1000 and 2000 cells/mm2 in the central retina and lower in the dorsal and ventral periphery. All three species have a temporal area in the retina with peak ganglion cell densities of 4600 to 6600 cells/mm2. As a result, the foliage-roosting Cynopterus sphinx and the cave-roosting Rousettus leschenaultii have similar anatomical resolution (2.7 and 2.8 cycles/degree, respectively). The anatomical estimate for the larger tree-roosting P. giganteus (4.0 cycles/degree) is higher than the spatial resolution determined earlier in behavioural tests. Like other pteropodids and unlike other vertebrates, all three species have choroidal papillae. Based on 15 pteropodid species studied to date, we find no relationship between roost type and eye size or visual acuity. For a general understanding of the sensory ecology of pteropodids that perform key ecosystem services in the tropics, it will be essential to study additional species.

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Fruit-feeding behaviour and use of olfactory cues by the fruit batRousettus leschenaulti: an experimental study

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

Olfactory tracking strategies in a neotropical fruit bat

Olfactory tracking strategies in a neotropical fruit bat

FoxP2and olfaction: Divergence ofFoxP2expression in olfactory tubercle between different feeding habit bats

Retinal Ganglion Cell Topography and Spatial Resolution in Three Indian Pteropodid Bats

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