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The effect of familiarity on echolocation in the megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus

The effect of familiarity on echolocation in the megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus The effect of familiarity on echolocation in the megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus Richard A. Holland 1,2,3) & Dean A. Waters 2) ( 1 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544-1003, USA; 2 Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK) (Accepted: 14 June 2007) Summary Much is known about the way bats adjust their echolocation behaviour in response to environ- mental structure or to locate insect prey. By contrast, little is known about how echolocation calls are modulated in response to familiarity of the environment and objects within it. Here we show that the echolocating Megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus produces echolo- cation signals at the same rate whether an obstacle is predictable or unpredictable in location, but that it has a reduced rate of echolocation signal production in a familiar environment with no obstacle present. This suggests that signal production is reduced in a familiar environment absent of ‘clutter’ but that probing the environment for maximum information is more im- portant for this species than minimizing any cost of probing the environment in a cluttered space. Keywords : echolocation, familiarity, Rousettus aegyptiacus , bats. Introduction All Microchiropteran and at least one Megachiropteran http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Behaviour Brill

The effect of familiarity on echolocation in the megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus

Holland, Richard; Waters, Dean
Behaviour , Volume 144 (9): 12 – Jan 1, 2007
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References (13)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0005-7959
eISSN
1568-539X
DOI
10.1163/156853907781871842
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The effect of familiarity on echolocation in the megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus Richard A. Holland 1,2,3) & Dean A. Waters 2) ( 1 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, 08544-1003, USA; 2 Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK) (Accepted: 14 June 2007) Summary Much is known about the way bats adjust their echolocation behaviour in response to environ- mental structure or to locate insect prey. By contrast, little is known about how echolocation calls are modulated in response to familiarity of the environment and objects within it. Here we show that the echolocating Megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus produces echolo- cation signals at the same rate whether an obstacle is predictable or unpredictable in location, but that it has a reduced rate of echolocation signal production in a familiar environment with no obstacle present. This suggests that signal production is reduced in a familiar environment absent of ‘clutter’ but that probing the environment for maximum information is more im- portant for this species than minimizing any cost of probing the environment in a cluttered space. Keywords : echolocation, familiarity, Rousettus aegyptiacus , bats. Introduction All Microchiropteran and at least one Megachiropteran

Journal

Behaviour – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2007

Keywords: ROUSETTUS AEGYPTIACUS; FAMILIARITY; ECHOLOCATION; BATS

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