Review
Zoology
Robert M. R. Barclay, David S. Jacobs
Summary: The vast majority of bat species use diverse echolocation calls to gather information about their surroundings, including prey detection. These calls also contain information about the caller, which can be detected and utilized by other bats. Through analysis and experiments, researchers have found that these calls often carry information about the species, population, sex, age, size, and individual identity of the caller. Intentional or unintentional communication occurs in various situations, such as feeding, roosting, mate choice, and mother-offspring interactions. This review also highlights the need for further research in this field.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Katja Rauchenstein, Klaus Ecker, Elias Bader, Christian Ginzler, Christoph Dueggelin, Fabio Bontadina, Martin K. Obrist
Summary: Human impact on vegetation structure poses a threat to the main foraging habitat of Greater Mouse-eared Bats. Predicting the suitable foraging habitat using LiDAR has significant implications for conservation management.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Mesut Bas, Atilla Arslan
Summary: The acoustic definition of insectivorous bat species based on echolocation calls can reveal habitat use, activity, and behavior patterns. Using ultrasonic detectors to identify bat species and assess habitat use has become a valuable method, especially for difficult-to-capture species. In this study, six bat species were analyzed in the Selcuklu district of Konya province, and discriminant function analysis classified the species with 100% accuracy.
KSU TARIM VE DOGA DERGISI-KSU JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURE
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Natalie Yoh, Tigga Kingston, Ellen McArthur, Oliver E. Aylen, Joe Chun-Chia Huang, Emy Ritta Jinggong, Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan, Benjamin P. Y. H. Lee, Simon L. Mitchell, Jake E. Bicknell, Matthew J. Struebig
Summary: This study presents a semi-automated framework for classifying bat calls in Southeast Asia, which can rapidly and accurately process large volumes of data, providing an alternative method for non-invasive monitoring of bats when species-specific classifiers are not yet feasible.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Jessica Montoya, Yelim Lee, Angeles Salles
Summary: This article reviews the social lives of big brown bats, proposes a unified nomenclature for describing their social vocalizations, and discusses the next steps in studying the social structure of this species. These studies will advance both research in neuroethology and ecology of big brown bats.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Rachel A. Page, Hannah M. ter Hofstede
Summary: Researching sensory and cognitive adaptations in animals is crucial for understanding the evolution of adaptive behaviors, with bats being ideal animals due to their high ecological diversity. Recent studies have provided insights into the molecular, genetic, neural, and behavioral bases of sensory ecology and cognition in bats, revealing connections between information filtering, evolutionary trade-offs, and multimodal sensing. Investigating the selective pressures underlying information acquisition, processing, and use in bats aims to illuminate patterns and processes driving sensory and cognitive evolution.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS, VOL 52, 2021
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tamas Gorfol, Joe Chun-Chia Huang, Gabor Csorba, Dorottya Gyorossy, Peter Estok, Tigga Kingston, Kriszta Lilla Szabadi, Ellen McArthur, Juliana Senawi, Neil M. Furey, Vuong Tan Tu, Vu Dinh Thong, Faisal Ali Anwarali Khan, Emy Ritta Jinggong, Melissa Donnelly, Jayaraj Vijaya Kumaran, Jian-Nan Liu, Shiang-Fan Chen, Mao-Ning Tuanmu, Ying-Yi Ho, Heng-Chia Chang, Nurul-Ain Elias, Nur-Izzati Abdullah, Lee-Sim Lim, C. Daniel Squire, Sandor Zsebok
Summary: The ChiroVox website is the largest open-access bat call library, providing over 3,900 recordings of nearly 200 species, serving as a valuable resource for researchers and ecologists.
Article
Ecology
Adria Lopez-Baucells, Natalie Yoh, Ricardo Rocha, Paulo E. D. Bobrowiec, Jorge M. Palmeirim, Christoph F. J. Meyer
Summary: Bioacoustics has become an increasingly popular non-invasive and cost-effective method for sampling wildlife, particularly in tropical regions where appropriate protocol guidelines are lacking. Using acoustic data from the Amazon, this study assessed the minimum survey effort needed to accurately assess the completeness of assemblage inventories and habitat selection in fragmented forest landscapes. The research found that the required sampling effort varied depending on research aim and landscape scenario, with an average of about 80 nights before and 10 nights after fragment re-isolation.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Frank Fundel, Daniel A. Braun, Sebastian Gottwald
Summary: Automatically identifying bat species from their echolocation calls is a challenging task. Existing models trained on single call datasets often perform poorly on real-life data and are too slow for real-time classification. This study proposes a Transformer architecture trained on synthetic data and achieves high accuracy and F1-score on the test set, outperforming other tools on an independent dataset.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Anatomy & Morphology
Timothy D. Smith, Sharlene E. Santana, Thomas P. Eiting
Summary: This special issue of The Anatomical Record is a dedication to Professor Kunwar P. Bhatnagar, whose lifelong interests in biology and study of bats have contributed significantly to our understanding of these flying mammals. The 15 articles included cover a wide range of topics related to bat development, sensory systems, flight, and diet specializations. These articles highlight the fascinating adaptations of bats, such as their rapid forelimb development, ear morphologies for echolocation, and enhanced senses enabling niche exploitation worldwide. This special issue serves as a foundation for future studies in bat biology and mammalian comparative anatomy and ecomorphology.
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Edwin Dickinson, Emily Tomblin, Madison Rose, Zoe Tate, Mihika Gottimukkula, Michael C. Granatosky, Sharlene E. Santana, Adam Hartstone-Rose
Summary: Echolocation is the primary sense used by bats for navigation, but its influence on the morphology of the auditory apparatus is not well understood. This study used mu CT datasets to investigate the relationships between body size, habitat use, diet, and the morphology of the inner and middle ear in 27 bat species. The results showed that ossicle size scaled negatively with body mass, and cochlear spirality was associated with wing aspect ratio. Malleus and incus morphology varied with diet and call frequency, while stapes morphology was more closely tied to body size. Future research will explore these relationships in other bat lineages and compare echolocating and non-echolocating taxa.
ANATOMICAL RECORD-ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Kathleen Collier, Stuart Parsons
Summary: This study examines the syntactic construction of courtship songs in the New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat. The research shows that the bat songs are hierarchically constructed, non-random, and demonstrate a high degree of individual variation and potentially individual recognition.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Michael S. S. Smotherman, Thomas Croft, Silvio Macias
Summary: Echolocating bats can discriminate between different surface textures based on the spectral properties of returning echoes, with a discrimination performance comparable to human tactile discrimination.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Ryunosuke Shioya, Atsushi Nakagomi, Kazushige Ide, Katsunori Kondo
Summary: The evidence for the effectiveness of video calls in preventing late-life depression during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited. This study examined the relationship between social contact (in-person, voice call, and video call) and the incidence of depressive symptoms, and considered the influence of age and changes in in-person contact frequency on this relationship. The findings suggest that video calls may not be as effective as in-person contact in protecting against depressive symptoms among older adults during the pandemic.
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Ilias Foskolos, Michael Bjerre Pedersen, Kristian Beedholm, Astrid Sormark Uebel, Jamie Macaulay, Laura Stidsholt, Signe Brinklov, Peter Teglberg Madsen
Summary: This study found that bats are able to maintain adequate echo-to-noise ratios for prey hunting by increasing call amplitude, even when they cannot avoid masking spectrally, spatially or temporally.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Acoustics
Aiqing Lin, Tinglei Jiang, Jiang Feng, Jagmeet S. Kanwal
JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2016)
Article
Ecology
Ai-Qing Lin, Gabor Csorba, Lin-Feng Li, Ting-Lei Jiang, Guan-Jun Lu, Vu Dinh Thong, Pipat Soisook, Ke-Ping Sun, Jiang Feng
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2014)
Article
Ecology
Aiqing Lin, Tinglei Jiang, Jagmeet S. Kanwal, Guanjun Lu, Jinhong Luo, Xuewen Wei, Bo Luo, Jiang Feng
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yang Chang, Shengjing Song, Aoqiang Li, Yu Zhang, Zhongle Li, Yanhong Xiao, Tinglei Jiang, Jiang Feng, Aiqing Lin
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yu Zhang, Aiqing Lin, Jianan Ding, Xinyao Yang, Tinglei Jiang, Ying Liu, Jiang Feng
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Shengjing Song, Yang Chang, Daiping Wang, Tinglei Jiang, Jiang Feng, Aiqing Lin
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Huan Wu, Lixin Gong, Tinglei Jiang, Jiang Feng, Aiqing Lin
Summary: This study examines the effects of weather conditions on bats' echolocation signals by analyzing changes in body temperature and call frequencies. The results show that both physiological condition and atmospheric attenuation can influence the echolocation signals of bats, with weather-induced adjustments more likely to be driven by atmospheric attenuation effects.
Article
Ecology
Aiqing Lin, Jiang Feng, Jagmeet S. Kanwal
Summary: Bats use rich vocal repertoires for social communication in addition to echolocation. This study found significant differences in the acoustic characteristics of social vocalizations across different geographic regions of bat populations, while the acoustic parameters of echolocation pulses were relatively consistent.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Aiqing Lin, Jiqian Li, Yinli Hu, Maojun Zhong, Minglun Yu, Nina Ma, Tingting Wei, Jinhong Luo, Jiang Feng
Summary: A study shows that the defensive tactics of moths, the countertactics of bats, and the availability of moths collectively shape the diets of insectivorous bats. This highlights the importance of using a combination of behavioral experiments and molecular genetic techniques to understand the complex interactions between predators and prey in nature.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yinli Hu, Jiqian Li, Maojun Zhong, Aiqing Lin
Summary: Moths have evolved acoustic defenses against bats, such as producing ultrasound to deter predation. Some moth species also use ultrasonic clicks to decrease the capture success of certain bats. This study examines how hawkmoths and tiger moths use their ultrasonic clicks to advertise toxicity and jam the echolocation calls of bats.