Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn?
Abstract Eavesdropping is a widespread strategy to optimize decision‐making. Bats are interesting models for investigating acoustic information transfer, as they possess a broad vocalization repertoire of echolocation and social calls. Yet, the knowledge of the extent to which eavesdropping plays a...
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crwiley:10.1111/eth.12519 2024-06-02T08:12:26+00:00 Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? Voigt‐Heucke, Silke L. Zimmer, Stefanie Kipper, Silke Herberstein, M. Association for the Study of Behaviour 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eth.12519 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Feth.12519 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eth.12519 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Ethology volume 122, issue 9, page 745-757 ISSN 0179-1613 1439-0310 journal-article 2016 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12519 2024-05-03T10:52:58Z Abstract Eavesdropping is a widespread strategy to optimize decision‐making. Bats are interesting models for investigating acoustic information transfer, as they possess a broad vocalization repertoire of echolocation and social calls. Yet, the knowledge of the extent to which eavesdropping plays a role in bat communication is scarce. Here, we examined the vocal and spatial activity patterns of three congeneric bat species ( Pipistrellus pipistrellus , P. pygmaeus , P. nathusii , hereafter called pipistrelles) during autumn – their migration and mating season. We hypothesized that pipistrelles utilize information of conspecifics and congenerics to localize stopover sites for mating or other information purposes during migration. We found that bats formed small multispecies aggregations on the wing, suggesting interspecific eavesdropping on feeding buzzes and/or courtship calls could occur among these species. Pipistrelles produced similar proportions of feeding buzzes and social calls at aggregation sites. To test whether pipistrelles respond to the courtship vocalizations of conspecifics and congenerics, we conducted a playback experiment with P. pipistrellus where we presented courtship vocalizations of the three pipistrelle species and as a control, a motif of the noctule bat's song ( Nyctalus noctula ). Pipistrellus pipistrellus decreased the rate of social calls in response to the broadcast of songs of P. nathusii , yet they tended to increase the rate in response to the playback of their own species. We conclude that interspecific eavesdropping occurs at least between P. pipistrellus and P. nathusii and might thus favour the formation of multispecies aggregations. Our findings provide novel insights into the social behaviour and interspecific communication of a bat community during the season of migration and mating. Article in Journal/Newspaper Nyctalus noctula Pipistrellus pipistrellus Wiley Online Library Ethology 122 9 745 757 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Eavesdropping is a widespread strategy to optimize decision‐making. Bats are interesting models for investigating acoustic information transfer, as they possess a broad vocalization repertoire of echolocation and social calls. Yet, the knowledge of the extent to which eavesdropping plays a role in bat communication is scarce. Here, we examined the vocal and spatial activity patterns of three congeneric bat species ( Pipistrellus pipistrellus , P. pygmaeus , P. nathusii , hereafter called pipistrelles) during autumn – their migration and mating season. We hypothesized that pipistrelles utilize information of conspecifics and congenerics to localize stopover sites for mating or other information purposes during migration. We found that bats formed small multispecies aggregations on the wing, suggesting interspecific eavesdropping on feeding buzzes and/or courtship calls could occur among these species. Pipistrelles produced similar proportions of feeding buzzes and social calls at aggregation sites. To test whether pipistrelles respond to the courtship vocalizations of conspecifics and congenerics, we conducted a playback experiment with P. pipistrellus where we presented courtship vocalizations of the three pipistrelle species and as a control, a motif of the noctule bat's song ( Nyctalus noctula ). Pipistrellus pipistrellus decreased the rate of social calls in response to the broadcast of songs of P. nathusii , yet they tended to increase the rate in response to the playback of their own species. We conclude that interspecific eavesdropping occurs at least between P. pipistrellus and P. nathusii and might thus favour the formation of multispecies aggregations. Our findings provide novel insights into the social behaviour and interspecific communication of a bat community during the season of migration and mating. |
author2 |
Herberstein, M. Association for the Study of Behaviour |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Voigt‐Heucke, Silke L. Zimmer, Stefanie Kipper, Silke |
spellingShingle |
Voigt‐Heucke, Silke L. Zimmer, Stefanie Kipper, Silke Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
author_facet |
Voigt‐Heucke, Silke L. Zimmer, Stefanie Kipper, Silke |
author_sort |
Voigt‐Heucke, Silke L. |
title |
Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
title_short |
Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
title_full |
Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
title_fullStr |
Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Does Interspecific Eavesdropping Promote Aerial Aggregations in European Pipistrelle Bats During Autumn? |
title_sort |
does interspecific eavesdropping promote aerial aggregations in european pipistrelle bats during autumn? |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eth.12519 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Feth.12519 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eth.12519 |
genre |
Nyctalus noctula Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
genre_facet |
Nyctalus noctula Pipistrellus pipistrellus |
op_source |
Ethology volume 122, issue 9, page 745-757 ISSN 0179-1613 1439-0310 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12519 |
container_title |
Ethology |
container_volume |
122 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
745 |
op_container_end_page |
757 |
_version_ |
1800758846147264512 |