The importance of atmospheric attenuation for the echolocation of bats (Chiroptera)

Griffin, Donald R.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(71)80134-3

Cited by 261 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This response may be a function of their distinct echolocation calls and behaviour (Kingston et al, 1999). Their range of target detection is likely less than that of HDC bats because of the low-intensity and high-frequency echolocation calls (Murininae calls sweep from 180 to 43kHz and Kerivoulinae calls sweep from 152 to 86kHz) (Griffin, 1971;Kingston et al, 1999). In Belize, some LDC bats use a very different strategy.…”

Section: Discussion Prey Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High duty cycle echolocation and prey detection by bats

Lazure

Fenton

2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThere are two very different approaches to laryngeal echolocation in bats. Although most bats separate pulse and echo in time by signalling at low duty cycles (LDCs), almost 20% of species produce calls at high duty cycles (HDCs) and separate pulse and echo in frequency. HDC echolocators are sensitive to Doppler shifts. HDC echolocation is well suited to detecting fluttering targets such as flying insects against a cluttered background. We used two complementary experiments to evaluate the relative effectiveness of LDC and HDC echolocation for detecting fluttering prey. We measured echoes from fluttering targets by broadcasting artificial bat calls, and found that echo amplitude was greatest for sounds similar to those used in HDC echolocation. We also collected field recordings of syntopic LDC and HDC bats approaching an insect-like fluttering target and found that HDC bats approached the target more often (18.6% of passes) than LDC bats (1.2% of passes). Our results suggest that some echolocation call characteristics, particularly duty cycle and pulse duration, translate into improved ability to detect fluttering targets in clutter, and that HDC echolocation confers a superior ability to detect fluttering prey in the forest understory compared with LDC echolocation. The prevalence of moths in the diets of HDC bats, which is often used as support for the allotonic frequency hypothesis, can therefore be partly explained by the better flutter detection ability of HDC bats. Supplementary material available online at

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Section: Discussion Prey Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High duty cycle echolocation and prey detection by bats

Lazure

Fenton

2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Attenuation and scattering of sound are frequency dependent . Water vapour (Griffin, 1971;Pye, 1979) and vegetation (Römer and Lewald, 1992) can also act together to reduce the energy of ultrasonic sounds. Thus the higher the carrier frequency, the shorter the range, and the less likely the calls are to be overheard by bats.…”

Section: Defences Against Batsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sound signalling in orthoptera

Robinson

Hall

2002

Advances in Insect Physiology

117

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“…Atmospheric attenuation, caused by the scattering and absorption of sound by the atmosphere, is the result of a complex interaction between the humidity and temperature of the air as well as the frequency of the sound (Hartley, 1989; Lawrence & Simmons, 1982; Luo et al., 2014; Mutumi et al., 2016). Climate could therefore play a pivotal role in driving the evolution of signaling systems through its effect on atmospheric sound attenuation (Griffin, 1971; Richards & Wiley, 1980;). For example, climatic conditions were found to have influenced the echolocation call frequency of Hiposideros ruber (Guillén, Juste, & Ibáñez, 2000) and some horseshoe bat species (Mutumi et al., 2016) through atmospheric attenuation of acoustic signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental correlates of geographic divergence in a phenotypic trait: A case study using bat echolocation

Maluleke

Jacobs

Winker

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Divergence in phenotypic traits may arise from the interaction of different evolutionary forces, including different kinds of selection (e.g., ecological), genetic drift, and phenotypic plasticity. Sensory systems play an important role in survival and reproduction, and divergent selection on such systems may result in lineage diversification. Such diversification could be largely influenced by selection in different environments as a result of isolation by environment (IbE). We investigated this process using geographic variation in the resting echolocation frequency of the horseshoe bat species, Rhinolophus damarensis, as a test case. Bats were sampled along a latitudinal gradient ranging from 16°S to 32°S in the arid western half of southern Africa. We measured body size and peak resting frequencies (RF) from handheld individual bats. Three hypotheses for the divergence in RF were tested: (1) James’ Rule, (2) IbE, and (3) genetic drift through isolation by distance (IbD) to isolate the effects of body size, local climatic conditions, and geographic distance, respectively, on the resting frequency of R. damarensis. Our results did not support genetic drift because there was no correlation between RF variation and geographic distance. Our results also did not support James' Rule because there was no significant relationship between (1) geographic distances and RF, (2) body size and RF, or (3) body size and climatic variables. Instead, we found support for IbE in the form of a correlation between RF and both region and annual mean temperature, suggesting that RF variation may be the result of environmental discontinuities. The environmental discontinuities coincided with previously reported genetic divergence. Climatic gradients in conjunction with environmental discontinuities could lead to local adaptation in sensory signals and directed dispersal such that gene flow is restricted, allowing lineages to diverge. However, our study cannot exclude the role of processes like phenotypic plasticity in phenotypic variation.

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The importance of atmospheric attenuation for the echolocation of bats (Chiroptera)

Cited by 261 publications

References 19 publications

High duty cycle echolocation and prey detection by bats

High duty cycle echolocation and prey detection by bats

Sound signalling in orthoptera

Environmental correlates of geographic divergence in a phenotypic trait: A case study using bat echolocation

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