Embryonic evidence uncovers convergent origins of laryngeal echolocation in bats

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Are vocal characteristics related to leadership patterns in mixed‐species bird flocks?

What structures the organization of mixed‐species bird flocks, so that some ‘nuclear’ species lead the flocks, and others follow? Previous research has shown that species actively listen to each other, and that leaders are gregarious; such gregarious species tend to make contact calls and hence may be vocally conspicuous. Here we investigated whether vocal characteristics are associated with leadership, using a global dataset of mixed‐species flock studies and recordings from sound archives. We first asked whether leaders are different from following or occasional species in flocks in the proportion of the recordings that contain calls (n = 58 flock studies, 145 species), and especially alarm calls (n = 111 species). We found that leaders tended to have a higher proportion of their vocalizations that were classified as calls than occasional species, and both leaders and following species had a significantly higher proportion of their calls rated as alarms compared to occasional species. Next, we investigated the acoustic characteristics of flock participants’ calls, hypothesizing that leaders would make more calls, and have less silence on the recordings. We also hypothesized that leaders’ calls would be simple acoustically, as contact calls tend to be, and thus similar to each other, as well as being detectable, in being low frequency and with high frequence bandwidth. The analysis (n = 45 species, 169 recordings) found that only one of these predictions was supported: leading species were less often silent than following or occasional species. Unexpectedly, leaders’ calls were less similar to each other than occasional species. The greater amount of information available and the greater variety of that information support the hypothesis that leadership in flocks is related to vocal communication. We highlight the use of sound archives to ask questions about behavioral and community ecology, while acknowledging some limitations of such studies.     

Hearing in the FM-bat Phyllostomus discolor: a behavioral audiogram

Absolute auditory thresholds of six adult lesser spear-nosed bats Phyllostomus discolor (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) were determined in a two-alternative forced-choice procedure. Behavioral responses to pure tone stimuli could be elicited throughout the tested frequency range of 5–142 kHz. The shape of the average audiogram is characterized by two sensitivity peaks and a pronounced increase of thresholds around 55 kHz, and towards the limits of the tested frequency range. The spectral extent of both sensitivity peaks shows a close relation to the bandwidth of two types of species-specific vocalizations. The first low threshold area (> 10 and < 55 kHz) of the audiogram seems perfectly adapted to the directive call used for intraspecific communication, whereas the second sensitivity peak, centered around 85 kHz, covers most of the bandwidth of the species' echolocation calls.Abbreviations CF constant frequency - FM frequency modulation - l left - r right - SPL Sound pressure level     

Local habitat use by botos (Amazon river dolphins,Inia geoffrensis) using passive acoustic methods

We monitored the underwater behavior of botos (Inia geoffrensis) using stereo acoustic data loggers to observe their local habitat use and its diel changes at the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve, Brazil. A‐tags were set at five sites in three different habitat types: Lake (low current), Channel (middle current), and Junction (junction of two channels). The presence index during nighttime was significantly greater than during daytime in the Lake and Junction. Underwater movement was estimated from the changing pattern (trajectory) of the relative angle of the sound source from A‐tags. A staying‐type trajectory was dominant in the Lake, although the prevalence of moving‐type trajectory increased at night. More than 80% of detected trajectories were the staying type in the Junction, while moving‐type trajectories dominated in the Channel. The frequency of click trains was greatest in the Lake, followed by the Junction and Channels. The average interpulse interval, which reflects the mean target distance of echolocation, was shortest in the Lake, followed by the Junction and Channel. These results suggest that the botos used the Lake as their primary habitat for active behaviors like foraging, especially at night, and the Junction as their primary habitat for relatively inactive behaviors at night.     

Intergroup calls of male pig-tailed langurs (Simias concolor)

Pig-tailed langurs (Simias concolor) were observed in the Pagai Islands and in Siberut. They lived in 1-male groups containing from one to five or more females plus their young. Adult males produced loud vocalizations of the sortGautier andGautier (1977) called “type 1 loud calls.” The pig-tailed langur's type 1 loud call (TOLC) was a series of 2 to 25 nasal barks, the loudest of which could be heard for 500 m or more in the rain forest. Exchange of TOLC's between males was the only frequent intergroup interaction. Fifty-one percent of TOLC's were emitted spontaneously, 33% occurred in response to TOLC's of other males, 13% to falling trees, 4% in response to thunder, and 1% during a fight between males of different groups. Although TOLC's occurred throughout the day, they exhibited a bimodal distribution, with a peak of calling early in the morning, and another in late afternoon. Tape-recorded TOLC's played back in the field stimulated males hearing them to emit TOLC's of their own. Barks in experimentally-elicited TOLC's were delivered at a faster rate than barks in other TOLC's were. While TOLC's mediate intergroup communication among males, field playback experiments are needed to truly elucidate their functions.     

Resource partitioning of sonar frequency bands in rhinolophoid bats

Summary In the Constant Frequency portions of the orientation calls of various Rhinolophus and Hipposideros species, the frequency with the strongest amplitude was studied comparatively. (1) In the five European species of the genus Rhinolophus call frequencies are either species-specific (R. ferrumequinum, R. blasii and R. euryale) or they overlap (R. hipposideros and R. mehelyi). The call frequency distributions are approximately 5–9 kHz wide, thus their ranges spead less than ±5% from the mean (Fig. 1). Frequency distributions are considerably narrower within smaller geographic areas. (2) As in other bat groups, call frequencies of the Rhinolophoidea are negatively correlated with body size (Fig. 3). Regression lines for the genera Rhinolophus and Rhinolophus, species from dryer climates have on the average higher call frequencies than species from tropical rain forests. (4) The Krau Game Reserve, a still largely intact rain forest area in Malaysia, harbours at least 12 syntopic Rhinolophus and Hipposiderso species. Their call frequencies lie between 40 and 200 kHz (Fig. 2). Distribution over the available frequency range is significantly more even than could be expected from chance alone. Two different null hypotheses to test for random character distribution were derived from frequency-size-relations and by sampling species assemblages from a species pool (Monte Carlo method); both were rejected. In particular, call frequencies lying close together are avoided (Figs. 4, 5). Conversely, the distribution of size ratios complied with a corresponding null hypothesis. This even distribution may be a consequence of resource partitioning with respect to prey type. Alternatively, the importance of these calls as social signals (e.g. recognition of conspecifics) might have necessitated a communication channel partitioning.     

Loud calls ofGalago crassicaudatus andG. garnettii and their relation to habitat structure

Long distance vocalizations have been shown to be good indicators of genetic species in primates. Here the loud calls of two recently identified greater galago taxa —Galago crassicaudatus andG. garnettii — are compared and analyzed statistically. Observed differences in call structures are investigated further as potential indicators of differences in the structures of habitats frequented by the two species. Although the calls share a repetitive structure, and show similar dominant frequency bands (1,000 – 1,500 Hz), they differ significantly in the number of units per call, unit duration, inter-unit interval, highest frequency, lowest frequency, dominant frequency band, first harmonic, and call duration. The duration of theG. crassicaudatus call is more than twice that ofG. garnettii. Strong intraspecific consistency is seen in the most energetic frequency bands (dominant frequency band and first harmonic), and durations of the individual units and inter-unit intervals. Information important to species recognition is thus most likely to be contained in these features. Individual recognition may be encoded in the relative emphasis of higher level harmonics. The frequency structures of the calls will reflect requirements for acoustical transmission in a forest environment, as well as structural constraints imposed by body size. Higher frequencies detected in theG. garnettii call (up to 8,500 Hz) may have a functional significance related to distance estimation, or may simply be a reflection of smaller body size. The greater modulation of theG. garnettii call suggests that its habitat constitutes a denser or more turbulent medium for sound transmission than does the habitat ofG. crassicaudatus.     

Determining woodpecker diversity in the sub‐Himalayan forests of northern India using call playbacks

ABSTRACT Tropical forests have exceptional woodpecker diversity, but little is known about the abundance and diversity of woodpeckers in the Indian subcontinent, particularly for the Shorea robusta‐dominated moist deciduous forests of northern India. Our objective was to compare the number of woodpecker species and number of individuals detected using playback surveys and visual/aural transect surveys at five sites. Each site was surveyed 5–6 times along a 2000‐m transect, with woodpeckers detected using two methods: (1) visual and aural cues, and (2) playing back calls of 13 species at 400‐m intervals. Both methods involved similar effort per survey (100–110 min). During surveys, we detected 11 species of woodpeckers. More species and more than twice as many individuals were detected during playback surveys than during visual/aural surveys. In addition, species accumulation curves showed that we detected the species known to be present based on previous work faster with playback surveys than with visual/aural surveys at four of the five sites. During field trials, 97% of targeted individuals (N= 269) of 12 species responded to playback, and 83% of the responses occurred within 1 min of broadcast. The number of species of woodpeckers in our study area (11 species) was typical for a structurally diverse, tropical/subtropical moist broad‐leaved forest. Our results demonstrate that playback surveys are more efficient and accurate than visual/aural surveys, and that playback surveys can be useful for assessing and monitoring woodpecker diversity in tropical forests.