Nathusius’ bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, bypass mating opportunities of their own species, but respond to foraging heterospecifics on migratory transit flights ...

• Main Authors: Marggraf, Lara C., Lindecke, Oliver, Voigt, Christian C., Pētersons, Gunārs, Voigt-Heucke, Silke L.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Freie Universität Berlin 2023
• Subjects: playback; phonotaxis; bats; acoustic communication; animal migration; eavesdropping; echolocation; Pipistrellus nathusii; 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften630 Landwirtschaft630 Landwirtschaft und verwandte Bereiche; Nyctalus noctula
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-38895; https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/39178

In late summer, migratory bats of the temperate zone face the challenge of accomplishing two energy-demanding tasks almost at the same time: migration and mating. Both require information and involve search efforts, such as localizing prey or finding potential mates. In non-migrating bat species, playback studies showed that listening to vocalizations of other bats, both con-and heterospecifics, may help a recipient bat to find foraging patches and mating sites. However, we are still unaware of the degree to which migrating bats depend on con-or heterospecific vocalizations for identifying potential feeding or mating opportunities during nightly transit flights. Here, we investigated the vocal responses of Nathusius’ pipistrelle bats, Pipistrellus nathusii, to simulated feeding and courtship aggregations at a coastal migration corridor. We presented migrating bats either feeding buzzes or courtship calls of their own or a heterospecific migratory species, the common noctule, Nyctalus noctula. We expected ...