Dataset Information

Bats adjust temporal parameters of echolocation pulses but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise.

ABSTRACT: Many studies based on acute short-term noise exposure have demonstrated that animals can adjust their vocalizations in response to ambient noise. However, the effects of chronic noise over a relatively long time scale of multiple days remain largely unclear. Bats rely mainly on acoustic signals for perception of environmental and social communication. Nearly all previous studies on noise-induced vocal adjustments have focused on echolocation pulse sounds. Relatively little is known regarding the effects of noise on social communication calls. Here, we examined the dynamic changes in the temporal parameters of echolocation and communication vocalizations of Vespertilio sinensis when exposed to traffic noise over multiple days. We found that the bats started to modify their echolocation vocalizations on the fourth day of noise exposure, with an increase of 42-91% in the total number of pulse sequences per day. Under noisy conditions, the number of pulses within a pulse sequence decreased by an average of 17.2%, resulting in a significantly slower number of pulses/sequence (P < 0.001). However, there was little change in the duration of a pulse sequence. These parameters were not significantly adjusted in most communication vocalizations under the noise condition (all P > 0.05), except that the duration decreased and the number of syllables/sequences increased in 1 type of communicative vocalization (P < 0.05). This study suggests that bats routinely adjust temporal parameters of echolocation but rarely of communication vocalizations in response to noise condition.

SUBMITTER: Song S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6900015 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Bats adjust temporal parameters of echolocation pulses but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise.

Song Shengjing S Lin Aiqing A Jiang Tinglei T Zhao Xin X Metzner Walter W Feng Jiang J

Integrative zoology 20191022 6

Many studies based on acute short-term noise exposure have demonstrated that animals can adjust their vocalizations in response to ambient noise. However, the effects of chronic noise over a relatively long time scale of multiple days remain largely unclear. Bats rely mainly on acoustic signals for perception of environmental and social communication. Nearly all previous studies on noise-induced vocal adjustments have focused on echolocation pulse sounds. Relatively little is known regarding the ...[more]

PMID: 30811841

Similar Datasets

Project description:Acoustic communication plays a pivotal role in conspecific recognition in numerous animal taxa. Vocalizations must therefore have discrete acoustic signatures to facilitate intra-specific communication and to avoid misidentification. Here we investigate the potential role of echolocation in communication in horseshoe bats. Although it has been demonstrated that echolocation can be used to discriminate among con- and hetero-specifics, the specific acoustic cues used in discrimination are still relatively unknown. Furthermore, the Acoustic Communication Hypothesis proposes that in multispecies assemblages, in which echolocation frequencies are likely to overlap, bats partition acoustic space along several dimensions so that each species occupies a discrete communication domain. Thus, multiple echolocation variables may be used in discrimination. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of various echolocation variables to function as discriminatory cues in echolocation-based species discrimination. Using habituation-dishabituation playback experiments, we firstly tested the ability of Rhinolophus clivosus to discriminate between echolocation pulses of heterospecifics with either discrete or overlapping frequencies. Secondly, to determine whether R. clivosus could use echolocation variables other than frequency, we investigated its ability to discriminate among echolocation pulses differing in only one manipulated parameter. These test variables were identified by their contribution to the dissimilarity among pulses. Our results suggest that R. clivosus could discriminate readily between species using echolocation pulses with discrete frequencies. When frequencies overlapped, the ability of bats to discriminate was dependant on additional acoustic variables that defined the acoustic space occupied by the test signal. These additional acoustic variables included, but may not be restricted to, sweep rate of the FM and duty cycle. Thus, when echolocation pulses share a similar acoustic domain, bats use several cues to reliably discriminate among heterospecifics.

Dataset Information

Bats adjust temporal parameters of echolocation pulses but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise.

Publications

Bats adjust temporal parameters of echolocation pulses but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets