Notes on Food Habits of Bats

Ross, Anthony

doi:10.2307/1377243

Cited by 52 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…There also exist many observations and descriptions of bats hunting for insects in the field (e.g., Ross, 1961;Black, 1972;Kunz, 1974;Buchler, 1976;Whitaker, 1976;Anthony and Kunz, 1977;Vaughan, 1977;Brown and Berry, 1983;Warner, 1985 ) and in the laboratory (Goldmann and Henson, 1977;Trappe, 1982) suggesting or implying prey selection. Von der Emde (1988) and Nitsche (1987) measured the performance of "CF bats"--Rhinolophus ferrumequinum and Rhinolophus rouxi, respectively--in discriminating different wing beat rates in a two-alternative forcedchoice procedure.…”

Section: A Do Bats Use the Information Contained In The Echo Of Flyimentioning

confidence: 99%

Information in sonar echoes of fluttering insects available for echolocating bats

Kober¹,

Schnitzler²

1990

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

123

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Insects were mounted in the acoustical beam of an ultrasonic loudspeaker transmitting either an 80-kHz continuous constant frequency (CF) tone or a short frequency-modulated (FM) signal (82-18 kHz). The returning CF or FM echoes were recorded and analyzed. Short amplitude peaks or amplitude glints, which occur in the echo in the rhythm of the wing beat, are produced each time some part of the wing surface moves into a plane perpendicular to the impinging sound waves. The amplitude glints are represented in spectrograms of echoes as transitory spectral broadenings or frequency glints. In CF echoes, the composition of positive and negative frequency shifts associated with glints encode the attitude of the flying insect relative to the sound source independent of the insect species. Further information in CF echoes allows a classification of insects as to wing beat frequency, wing structure, wing beat type, wing length, and insect size. Only the wing beat rate of a fluttering insect could be decoded from FM echoes of sounds delivered at fixed duration and repetition rate toward a beetle. The information in the insect echoes described here explains much of the performance of bats concerning their ability to identify insects in behavioral experiments. Whether bats are able to classify insects in the field is discussed. The data from this study allow the computation of the maximum echo sound-pressure levels for insects.

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Section: A Do Bats Use the Information Contained In The Echo Of Flyimentioning

confidence: 99%

Information in sonar echoes of fluttering insects available for echolocating bats

Kober¹,

Schnitzler²

1990

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

123

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“…General insect consumption Studies of dietary habits of insectivorous bats date back many years, 42–49 but few have assessed the potential impacts of prey consumption on human health or natural and agricultural systems. Although it is beyond the scope of this review, there has been considerable debate as to the degree of prey selection by bats 38,50 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Insectivorous bat activity and diversity are strongly correlated with arthropod abundance, 56–58 suggesting that bats seek out areas of concentrated prey sources. Although there is considerable variation in the relative proportions consumed by different species, most insectivorous bats eat large quantities of lepidopterans (moths), coleopterans (beetles), dipterans (flies), homopterans (cicadas, leaf hoppers), and hemipterans (true bugs) 44,47 , 59–63 . Some species also eat unusual prey items such as scorpions and spiders 64 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem services provided by bats

Kunz

Torrez

Bauer

et al. 2011

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

1,166

790

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Ecosystem services are the benefits obtained from the environment that increase human well-being. Economic valuation is conducted by measuring the human welfare gains or losses that result from changes in the provision of ecosystem services. Bats have long been postulated to play important roles in arthropod suppression, seed dispersal, and pollination; however, only recently have these ecosystem services begun to be thoroughly evaluated. Here, we review the available literature on the ecological and economic impact of ecosystem services provided by bats. We describe dietary preferences, foraging behaviors, adaptations, and phylogenetic histories of insectivorous, frugivorous, and nectarivorous bats worldwide in the context of their respective ecosystem services. For each trophic ensemble, we discuss the consequences of these ecological interactions on both natural and agricultural systems. Throughout this review, we highlight the research needed to fully determine the ecosystem services in question. Finally, we provide a comprehensive overview of economic valuation of ecosystem services. Unfortunately, few studies estimating the economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats have been conducted to date; however, we outline a framework that could be used in future studies to more fully address this question. Consumptive goods provided by bats, such as food and guano, are often exchanged in markets where the market price indicates an economic value. Nonmarket valuation methods can be used to estimate the economic value of nonconsumptive services, including inputs to agricultural production and recreational activities. Information on the ecological and economic value of ecosystem services provided by bats can be used to inform decisions regarding where and when to protect or restore bat populations and associated habitats, as well as to improve public perception of bats.

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“…Both sexes likely roost singly (Brown and Pierson, 1996). The spotted bat feeds almost entirely on moths with an occasional record of a June beetle being found in the stomach (Ross, 1961(Ross, , 1967Easterla and Whitaker, 1972). Foraging occurs in canyons, in the open, over riparian vegetation, over meadows, or in open coniferous woodlands (Brown and Pierson, 1996).…”

Section: Spotted Batmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of the Chuckwalla, Western Burrowing Owl, and Six Bat Species on the Nevada Test Site

Willis¹

1997

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Notes on Food Habits of Bats

Cited by 52 publications

References 3 publications

Information in sonar echoes of fluttering insects available for echolocating bats

Information in sonar echoes of fluttering insects available for echolocating bats

Ecosystem services provided by bats

Distribution of the Chuckwalla, Western Burrowing Owl, and Six Bat Species on the Nevada Test Site

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