No evidence for spectral jamming avoidance in echolocation behavior of foraging pipistrelle bats ...

• Main Authors: Götze, Simone, Koblitz, Jens C., Denzinger, Annette, Schnitzler, Hans-Ulrich
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2016
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus pipistrellus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13487964; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13487964

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Abstract Frequency shifts in signals of bats flying near conspecifics have been interpreted as a spectral jamming avoidance response (JAR). However, several prerequisites supporting a JAR hypothesis have not been controlled for in previous studies. We recorded flight and echolocation behavior of foraging Pipistrellus pipistrellus while flying alone and with a conspecific and tested whether frequency changes were due to a spectral JAR with an increased frequency difference, or whether changes could be explained by other reactions. P. pipistrellus reacted to conspecifics with a reduction of sound duration and often also pulse interval, accompanied by an increase in terminal frequency. This reaction is typical of behavioral situations where targets of interest have captured the bat's attention and initiated a more detailed exploration. All observed frequency changes were predicted by the attention reaction alone, and do not support the JAR hypothesis of ...