Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species
Bats employ a variety of social calls for communication purposes. However, for most species, social calls are far less studied than echolocation calls and their specific function often remains unclear. We investigated the function of in-flight social calls during autumn swarming in front of a large...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e88cc5322c2546cb87f06d96268cedd3 2023-05-15T17:13:47+02:00 Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species Anja Bergmann Florian Gloza-Rausch Bernadette Wimmer Karl Kugelschafter Mirjam Knörnschild 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 https://doaj.org/article/e88cc5322c2546cb87f06d96268cedd3 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 https://doaj.org/article/e88cc5322c2546cb87f06d96268cedd3 Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10 (2022) bats (Chiroptera) autumn swarming Natterer’s bat Daubenton’s bat social calls interspecific communication Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 2022-12-30T21:12:55Z Bats employ a variety of social calls for communication purposes. However, for most species, social calls are far less studied than echolocation calls and their specific function often remains unclear. We investigated the function of in-flight social calls during autumn swarming in front of a large hibernaculum in Northern Germany, whose main inhabitants are two species of Myotis bats, Natterer’s bats (Myotis nattereri) and Daubenton’s bats (Myotis daubentonii). We recorded social calls in nights of high swarming activity and grouped the calls based on their spectro-temporal structure into ten types and verified our visual classification by a discriminant function analysis. Whenever possible, we subsequently assigned social calls to either M. daubentonii or M. nattereri by analyzing the echolocation calls surrounding them. As many bats echolocate at the same time during swarming, we did not analyze single echolocation calls but the “soundscape” surrounding each social call instead, encompassing not only spectral parameters but also the timbre (vocal “color”) of echolocation calls. Both species employ comparatively similar social call types in a swarming context, even though there are subtle differences in call parameters between species. To additionally gain information about the general function of social calls produced in a swarming context, we performed playback experiments with free-flying bats in the vicinity of the roost, using three different call types from both species, respectively. In three out of six treatments, bat activity (approximated as echolocation call rate) increased during and after stimulus presentation, indicating that bats inspected or approached the playback site. Using a camera trap, we were sometimes able to identify the species of approaching bats. Based on the photos taken during playbacks, we assume one call type to support interspecific communication while another call type works for intraspecific group cohesion. Article in Journal/Newspaper Myotis nattereri Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
bats (Chiroptera) autumn swarming Natterer’s bat Daubenton’s bat social calls interspecific communication Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
bats (Chiroptera) autumn swarming Natterer’s bat Daubenton’s bat social calls interspecific communication Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 Anja Bergmann Florian Gloza-Rausch Bernadette Wimmer Karl Kugelschafter Mirjam Knörnschild Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
topic_facet |
bats (Chiroptera) autumn swarming Natterer’s bat Daubenton’s bat social calls interspecific communication Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Bats employ a variety of social calls for communication purposes. However, for most species, social calls are far less studied than echolocation calls and their specific function often remains unclear. We investigated the function of in-flight social calls during autumn swarming in front of a large hibernaculum in Northern Germany, whose main inhabitants are two species of Myotis bats, Natterer’s bats (Myotis nattereri) and Daubenton’s bats (Myotis daubentonii). We recorded social calls in nights of high swarming activity and grouped the calls based on their spectro-temporal structure into ten types and verified our visual classification by a discriminant function analysis. Whenever possible, we subsequently assigned social calls to either M. daubentonii or M. nattereri by analyzing the echolocation calls surrounding them. As many bats echolocate at the same time during swarming, we did not analyze single echolocation calls but the “soundscape” surrounding each social call instead, encompassing not only spectral parameters but also the timbre (vocal “color”) of echolocation calls. Both species employ comparatively similar social call types in a swarming context, even though there are subtle differences in call parameters between species. To additionally gain information about the general function of social calls produced in a swarming context, we performed playback experiments with free-flying bats in the vicinity of the roost, using three different call types from both species, respectively. In three out of six treatments, bat activity (approximated as echolocation call rate) increased during and after stimulus presentation, indicating that bats inspected or approached the playback site. Using a camera trap, we were sometimes able to identify the species of approaching bats. Based on the photos taken during playbacks, we assume one call type to support interspecific communication while another call type works for intraspecific group cohesion. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Anja Bergmann Florian Gloza-Rausch Bernadette Wimmer Karl Kugelschafter Mirjam Knörnschild |
author_facet |
Anja Bergmann Florian Gloza-Rausch Bernadette Wimmer Karl Kugelschafter Mirjam Knörnschild |
author_sort |
Anja Bergmann |
title |
Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
title_short |
Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
title_full |
Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
title_fullStr |
Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between Myotis bat species |
title_sort |
similarities in social calls during autumn swarming may facilitate interspecific communication between myotis bat species |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 https://doaj.org/article/e88cc5322c2546cb87f06d96268cedd3 |
genre |
Myotis nattereri |
genre_facet |
Myotis nattereri |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 https://doaj.org/article/e88cc5322c2546cb87f06d96268cedd3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.950951 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
10 |
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1766070970958741504 |