In situ novel environment assay reveals acoustic exploration as a repeatable behavioral response in migratory bats ...

• Main Authors: Schabacker, Theresa, Lindecke, Oliver, Rizzi, Sofia, Marggraf, Lara, Pētersons, Gunārs, Voigt, Christian C., Snijders, Lysanne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2021
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Pipistrellus nathusii
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13488619; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13488619

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Abstract Integrating information on species-specific sensory perception with spatial activity provides a high-resolution understanding of how animals explore environments, yet frequently used exploration assays commonly ignore sensory acquisition as a measure for exploration. Echolocation is an active sensing system used by hundreds of mammal species, primarily bats. As echolocation call activity can be reliably quantified, bats present an excellent model system to investigate intraspecific variation in environmental cue sampling. Here, we developed an in situ roost-like novel environment assay for tree-roosting bats. We repeatedly tested 52 individuals of the migratory bat species, Pipistrellus nathusii , across 24 h, to examine the role of echolocation when crawling through a maze-type arena and test for consistent intraspecific variation in sensory-based exploration. We reveal a strong correlation between echolocation call activity and spatial activity. ...